(Reuters) -The U.S. Division of Justice has despatched a subpoena to Nvidia because it deepens its probe into the AI heavyweight’s antitrust practices, Bloomberg Information reported on Tuesday, citing individuals accustomed to the investigation.
The antitrust watchdog had beforehand delivered questionnaires, and has now despatched legally binding requests to Nvidia, the report mentioned, including that different corporations had additionally obtained subpoenas.
Officers are involved that the chipmaker is making it more durable to change to different suppliers and penalizes patrons that don’t completely use its synthetic intelligence chips, the report mentioned.
Final month, the Info reported that the Division of Justice had launched an investigation into Nvidia after complaints from rivals that it had abused its market dominance.
The subpoena comes at a fragile time for AI-related corporations as buyers recalibrate expectations across the expertise amid worries about gradual payoffs from hefty investments in it.
Nvidia’s quarterly forecast, which fell wanting buyers’ expectations final week, has additionally softened the optimism round AI.
The corporate’s shares fell 2.5% in prolonged buying and selling on Tuesday after shedding 9.5% within the common session, slashing Nvidia’s market capitalization by $279 billion, a report one-day loss for any firm.
The shares, nonetheless, are nonetheless up 141% to date this yr, because of a dizzying rally sparked by AI expectations.
Nvidia and the DoJ declined to reply to Reuters requests for remark.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Extra reporting by Jody Godoy and Max Cherney; Enhancing by Tasim Zahid and Shinjini Ganguli)
