The US Justice Department sent subpoenas to Nvidia and other companies as it seeks evidence that the chip maker violated antitrust laws, an escalation of its investigation into the dominant provider of AI processors.
The DOJ, which had previously delivered questionnaires to companies, is now sending legally binding requests that oblige recipients to provide information, according to people familiar with the investigation. That takes the government a step closer to launching a formal complaint.
Antitrust officials are concerned that Nvidia is making it harder to switch to other suppliers and penalises buyers that don’t exclusively use its artificial intelligence chips, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang presents the company’s Blackwell platform at an event ahead of the Computex forum in Taipei on June 2, 2024. Photo: Reuters
Nvidia shares, which suffered a record-setting US$279 billion rout on Tuesday, fell further in late trading after Bloomberg reported on the subpoenas. Still, the stock has more than doubled this year – fuelled by explosive sales growth at the Santa Clara, California-based chip maker.
As part of the probe, which Bloomberg previously reported in June, investigators have been contacting other technology companies to gather information. The DOJ’s San Francisco office is taking the lead running the inquiry, the people said. A representative for the DOJ declined to comment.
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