Nvidia's French Offices Face Surprise Raid Amid Cloud Computing Antitrust Probe
Summary:
California-based AI chip manufacturer Nvidia faced an unexpected raid by French authorities at its local offices. The inspection was part of a broad investigation by the French antitrust authority into anti-competitive behaviours in the cloud computing industry. While no official comment has been made by Nvidia or the French regulators, the situation brings the tech giant under the spotlight amidst concerns over dominance by a few companies in the digital industry.
In a recent development, California-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip maker Nvidia found itself under scrutiny during a surprise police raid at its French offices. The unexpected inspection is part of the French antitrust authorities' broader investigation into the cloud computing industry. Wall Street Journal brought this into light on September 28; however, both Nvidia and French regulatory bodies are yet to release official statements regarding the incident. The Autorité de la Concurrence, France's antitrust agency, made a vague reference on its website about an "unscheduled inspection" within the realm of graphics cards. It added that the judicially approved inspection aimed to probe possible anti-competitive behaviours in the sector. The agency clarified that the raid does not necessarily imply wrongdoing on the company's part.
Shedding light on its own findings, the Autorité de la Concurrence cited an investigation into the cloud computing sector that spanned over a year. The June 2023 report doesn't specifically label Nvidia but highlights three tech giants — Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. The French antitrust regulator's data reveal that these three companies accounted for an 80% growth in public cloud infrastructure and application expenditure in France, in 2021. In specific figures, Amazon and Microsoft garnered 46% and 17% of Infrastructure-As-A-Service and Platform-As-A-Service revenues in 2021, respectively. The authorities worry about these hyper scalers' considerable financial ability and digital ecosystems stifling the development of competition. The regulator is exploring potential measures within national competition laws and the European Data Act to curb this dominance.
Due to its critical role in providing hardware for the most advanced digital industry sectors, Nvidia naturally falls under the radar of these regulators. Reportedly, US regulators suggested the company to limit the export of AI chips to certain counties in the Middle East, as per the company's recent quarterly report. This information was refuted a day later by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Published At
9/29/2023 8:27:22 AM
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