Antitrust tensions are heating up in the chipmaking industry, as rivals have accused Wall Street darling Nvidia Corp of abusing its market dominance in selling chips that power artificial intelligence (AI) — and the US Department of Justice is now investigating these complaints, technology news site The Information reported.
The news outlet, which cited unnamed sources familiar with the discussions, said that justice department officials are looking into concerns that Nvidia is potentially cornering the market and pressuring its customers to unfairly retain business.
That includes allegations of Nvidia threatening to punish those who buy products from the Santa Clara, California-based tech giant and its competitors.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The Information also reported that US officials had reached out to several Nvidia competitors about the complaints.
The justice department declined to comment or provide further information when reached on Friday.
However, a statement from Nvidia said the company “wins on merit” — and competes “based on decades of investment and innovation, scrupulously adhering to all laws.”
Without directly acknowledging details of The Information’s Thursday report, the company added that it is “happy to provide any information regulators need.”
Nvidia has faced calls for an antitrust investigation from some Democratic lawmakers and progressive groups before. Earlier last week, 10 progressive advocacy groups — including Demand Progress Education Fund and Tech Oversight Project — penned a letter to US Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter in support of an antitrust investigation into the chipmaker.
“Nvidia is the world’s chip gatekeeper,” the groups wrote, adding that the company had “bullied its way into a prominent investment position” by leveraging scarce supply alongside tactics like blocking customers from doing business with competitors.
“Such a company deserves the most aggressive scrutiny that the Department of Justice can bring to bear,” they said.
Nvidia has cemented itself as a poster child for the AI boom — and in the process become one of the most valuable companies in the world. In June, the tech giant briefly reached a market value of more than US$3.3 trillion.
Nvidia’s upcoming AI chips would be delayed due to design flaws, The Information reported, citing two unidentified people who help produce the chip and its server hardware.
The chips might be delayed by three months or more, which could affect Nvidia’s customers including Meta Platforms Inc, Google LLC and Microsoft Corp.
Nvidia last week informed Microsoft about a delay affecting the most advanced AI chip models in the Blackwell series, an unidentified Microsoft employee and another person said.
The delays mean big shipments are not expected until the first quarter of next year, The Information added.
A spokesperson for Nvidia would not comment on its statements to customers about the delay, but told The Information that “production is on track to ramp” later this year.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
JITTERS: Nexperia has a 20 percent market share for chips powering simpler features such as window controls, and changing supply chains could take years European carmakers are looking into ways to scratch components made with parts from China, spooked by deepening geopolitical spats playing out through chipmaker Nexperia BV and Beijing’s export controls on rare earths. To protect operations from trade ructions, several automakers are pushing major suppliers to find permanent alternatives to Chinese semiconductors, people familiar with the matter said. The industry is considering broader changes to its supply chain to adapt to shifting geopolitics, Europe’s main suppliers lobby CLEPA head Matthias Zink said. “We had some indications already — questions like: ‘How can you supply me without this dependency on China?’” Zink, who also
The number of Taiwanese working in the US rose to a record high of 137,000 last year, driven largely by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) rapid overseas expansion, according to government data released yesterday. A total of 666,000 Taiwanese nationals were employed abroad last year, an increase of 45,000 from 2023 and the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic, data from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed. Overseas employment had steadily increased between 2009 and 2019, peaking at 739,000, before plunging to 319,000 in 2021 amid US-China trade tensions, global supply chain shifts, reshoring by Taiwanese companies and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) received about NT$147 billion (US$4.71 billion) in subsidies from the US, Japanese, German and Chinese governments over the past two years for its global expansion. Financial data compiled by the world’s largest contract chipmaker showed the company secured NT$4.77 billion in subsidies from the governments in the third quarter, bringing the total for the first three quarters of the year to about NT$71.9 billion. Along with the NT$75.16 billion in financial aid TSMC received last year, the chipmaker obtained NT$147 billion in subsidies in almost two years, the data showed. The subsidies received by its subsidiaries —
Shiina Ito has had fewer Chinese customers at her Tokyo jewelry shop since Beijing issued a travel warning in the wake of a diplomatic spat, but she said she was not concerned. A souring of Tokyo-Beijing relations this month, following remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan, has fueled concerns about the impact on the ritzy boutiques, noodle joints and hotels where holidaymakers spend their cash. However, businesses in Tokyo largely shrugged off any anxiety. “Since there are fewer Chinese customers, it’s become a bit easier for Japanese shoppers to visit, so our sales haven’t really dropped,” Ito
RSS