Nvidia Set To Face French Antitrust Charges, Sources Say

Nvidia is set to be charged by the French antitrust regulator for allegedly anti-competitive practices, people with direct knowledge of the matter said, making it the first enforcer to act against the computer chip maker, Foo Yun Chee reported for Reuters.

Nvidia said regulators in the European Union (EU), China, and France had asked for information on its graphic cards. I Photo: NVIDIA Facebook

The French so-called statement of objections or charge sheet would follow dawn raids in the graphics cards sector in September last year, which sources said targeted Nvidia. The raids were the result of a broader inquiry into cloud computing.

The world's largest maker of chips used both for artificial intelligence (AI) and for computer graphics has seen demand for its chips jump following the release of the generative AI application ChatGPT, triggering regulatory scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic.

The French authority, which publishes some but not all of its statements of objections to companies, and Nvidia declined to comment. The company in a regulatory filing last year said regulators in the European Union (EU), China, and France had asked for information on its graphic cards.

The European Commission (EC) is unlikely to expand its preliminary review since the French authority is looking into Nvidia, other people with direct knowledge of the matter said.