Nvidia says it wasn’t served a subpoena in an ongoing Justice Division investigation into the chip-making big, contradicting an earlier report.
However in an announcement Wednesday afternoon, Nvidia mentioned it “inquired” with the Justice Division and did not get a subpoena.
“We now have inquired with the US Division of Justice and haven’t been subpoenaed,” the corporate instructed Enterprise Insider within the assertion. “Nonetheless, we’re completely happy to reply any questions regulators might have about our enterprise.”
Bloomberg adopted up on Wednesday night, reporting that the DOJ despatched Nvidia a civil investigative demand, citing one individual with data of the matter.
A subpoena would mark an escalation within the DOJ’s investigation. Justice Division legal professionals had beforehand despatched questionnaires to a number of companies, Bloomberg reported. However subpoenas delivered to Nvidia Corp. and different expertise corporations, in accordance with Bloomberg, which cited nameless sources aware of the matter, can be a brand new step that brings the investigation nearer to a possible lawsuit.
“Nvidia wins on benefit, as mirrored in our benchmark outcomes and worth to prospects, who can select no matter resolution is finest for them,” a spokesperson for the corporate mentioned within the assertion.
Enterprise Insider reached out to the Justice Division for remark.
Federal businesses are investigating potential antitrust points on a number of fronts, in accordance with earlier stories.
Justice Division officers are investigating whether or not Nvidia’s dominance has made it tough for consumers to make use of different suppliers, Bloomberg reported, citing folks aware of the state of affairs. Some advocacy teams have complained that Nvidia threatens purchasers that use chips from each Nvidia and its rivals.
Based on Politico, Justice Division legal professionals are additionally analyzing Nvidia’s buy this yr of Run:ai, an organization that enables laptop chips to function extra effectively.
Individually, the Federal Commerce Fee is investigating whether or not Microsoft and OpenAI broke antitrust legal guidelines by their partnership. OpenAI makes use of chips from Nvidia to coach the massive language fashions that type the spine of its merchandise, together with ChatGPT.
Nvidia’s inventory value suffered amid a broader market rout, dropping almost 10% on Tuesday and slipping barely decrease once more on Wednesday.
Replace — September 4, 2024: This story has been up to date with Nvidia’s newest assertion denying that it was subpoenaed by the Division of Justice.
