U.S. government launches antitrust probe into Nvidia.

The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into Nvidia over its dominance in the artificial intelligence market. The DOJ is examining whether Nvidia has leveraged its commanding lead—controlling over 80% of the global GPU chip market—to lock out competitors from entering the sector. This investigation was prompted by a July 30 letter from multiple U.S. groups, including democratic senator Elizabeth Warren, urging the DOJ to take action. The letter emphasized that "Nvidia's size means it now holds control over the world's computing destiny, which gives it dangerous leverage over the global economy," and highlighted the company's 98% dominance in the data center market specifically.

The investigation has several main components. The DOJ is examining Nvidia's bundling of software and hardware, particularly its CUDA platform, which serves as the foundational platform for the AI market but works exclusively on Nvidia's hardware. According to Reuters, the software stack has made it next to impossible for competitors to enter the AI market, and projects to port or sidestep CUDA have consistently met resistance from Nvidia. Additionally, the investigation is looking into whether Nvidia charges customers more for additional data center equipment when they purchase GPUs from competitors like AMD and Intel. The DOJ is reportedly speaking with Nvidia's competitors as part of this inquiry.

The concerns about Nvidia's market practices extend beyond government scrutiny. AMD executives have previously referred to Nvidia as the "GPU cartel." Jonathan Ross, CEO of AI chip startup Groq, described the competitive pressure directly, stating that "a lot of people that we meet with say that if Nvidia were to hear that we were meeting, they would disavow it … you may get your hardware in a year, or it may take longer, and it's, 'Aw shucks, you're buying from someone else, and I guess it's going to take a little longer.'" This is not Nvidia's first regulatory challenge; in 2021, the company was sued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over its proposed $40 billion acquisition of chip designer ARM, with the FTC citing similar antitrust concerns. Currently, the DOJ is in the investigation phase, but could bring a lawsuit forward if it finds evidence of antitrust violations.