The US Justice Department sent subpoenas to Nvidia Corp. and other companies as it seeks evidence that the chipmaker violated antitrust laws, an escalation of its investigation into the dominant AI computing provider.
The DOJ, which had previously delivered questionnaires to companies, is now sending legally binding requests that oblige recipients to provide it with information, according to people familiar with the investigation. That takes the government probe a step closer to launching a formal complaint.
Antitrust officials are concerned that Nvidia is making it harder to switch to other suppliers and penalizes 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 shares, which suffered a record-setting rout on Monday, fell further in late trading after Bloomberg reported on the subpoenas. Still, the stock has more than doubled this year — fueled by explosive sales growth at the Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker.
As part of the probe, which Bloomberg previously reported on 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.
Representatives for DOJ and Nvidia declined to comment.
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