Reuters claims to have been tipped off by sources close to the case within the Competition Authority. The state body is said to fear a monopoly by the equipment manufacturer on new-generation graphics cards fueling the boom in generative artificial intelligence, such as Chat-GPT or Midjourney to name the best known. In a official report published last Friday, the Competition Authority is concerned about the privileged link between Nvidia and GAFAM:
“Large digital companies benefit from privileged access to the inputs needed for training and developing foundation models. These advantages are not easily replicated by competing foundation model developers who do not have access to these inputs under the same conditions. They have indeed easier access to computing power as partners and competitors of AI chip suppliers. On the one hand, they have the ability to buy in large quantities and negotiate preferential agreements with GPU suppliers such as Nvidia.“
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The Nvidia Loca
In other words, the Competition Authority fears that this strong link between digital giants and Nvidia will close the door to generative AI to smaller companies, either excluded from Nvidia's closed circle or producing suitable graphics cards but shunned by GAFAM, which are all developing their own little AI models in their own corner.There have also been concerns about the industry’s reliance on Nvidia’s CUDA chip programming software, which is the only environment that is fully compatible with GPUs that have become essential for accelerated computing. Nvidia’s recent investment announcements in AI-focused cloud service providers such as Coreweave also raise concerns.“, the report continues further.
The Competition Authority has had Nvidia in its sights for more than ten months: a “unexpected search and seizure operation” in its Parisian premises was carried out on the morning of September 26. If the official press release declined to name the company involved, Reuters can confirm that it was the American equipment manufacturer. The Authority was concerned about “Anti-competitive practices in the graphics card sector“but specify that”This intervention obviously does not prejudge the guilt of the company concerned by the alleged practices, which only a substantive investigation will allow to be established if necessary. This intervention obviously does not prejudge the guilt of the company concerned by the alleged practices, which only a substantive investigation will allow to be established if necessary.“