Wednesday, February 28th 2024
NVIDIA Accused of Acting as "GPU Cartel" and Controlling Supply
World's most important fuel of the AI frenzy, NVIDIA, is facing accusations of acting as a "GPU cartel" and controlling supply in the data center market, according to statements made by executives at rival chipmaker Groq and former AMD executive Scott Herkelman. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Groq CEO Jonathan Ross alleged that some of NVIDIA's data center customers are afraid to even meet with rival AI chipmakers out of fear that NVIDIA will retaliate by delaying shipments of already ordered GPUs. This is despite NVIDIA's claims that it is trying to allocate supply fairly during global shortages. "This happens more than you expect, NVIDIA does this with DC customers, OEMs, AIBs, press, and resellers. They learned from GPP to not put it into writing. They just don't ship after a customer has ordered. They are the GPU cartel, and they control all supply," said former Senior Vice President and General Manager at AMD Radeon, Scott Herkelman, in response to the accusations on X/Twitter.
The comments reference the NVIDIA GeForce Partner Program (GPP) from 2018, which was abandoned following backlash over its exclusivity requirements. Herkelman suggests NVIDIA has continued similar practices but avoided written agreements. The Wall Street Journal report also hinted that major tech companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are developing their own AI accelerators but downplaying them as NVIDIA competitors. This further points to an environment where NVIDIA is seen as controlling access to key technology for AI development. NVIDIA currently powers around 80% of AI development worldwide, giving it incredible influence over strategic technology. The accusations from Groq and Herkelman suggest the company is willing to leverage that market position aggressively to protect its dominance. NVIDIA has not officially responded to the latest accusations. But the reports have fueled speculation about anticompetitive practices just as regulatory scrutiny grows over the market power of tech giants. NVIDIA will likely face pressure to transparently address whether its supply allocation favors some customers over others based on relationships with rival chipmakers.
Sources:
The Wall Street Journal, Scott Herkelman (X/Twitter), via VideoCardz
130 Comments on NVIDIA Accused of Acting as "GPU Cartel" and Controlling Supply
I'm going to hope that the regulators' hand doesn't reach our innocent and holy Jensen.
The XTX can be almost 2x faster than the 6900XT depending on the case. N31 is a monstrous GPU, it would look much better if AMD had the money left over to stick engineers in all the studios like Nvidia does.
Definitely "not a liar" :roll:
Typically MCM will deliver much better efficiency. We saw that with Zen. However RDNA3 is completely messed up in this regard.
I wonder if AMD will go back to a monolithic design for Radeon 8000 series.
Watt usage (games, video and multi monitor usage), drivers and support (early access titles and lesser popular titles just run bad on AMD, most emulators included), features like Reflex, DLSS, DLAA, DLDSR including ray tracing and path tracing, everything is just inferior on the AMD side. Hence the lower price and still its not selling well. AMD is in full panic mode when it comes to software in general.
AMD needs to focus on low to mid-end or Intel will eat them alive with Arc in a few years. When Intel starts blasting out Arc on their own nodes and AMD still relies 100% on TSMC which will milk them dry (because of node competition). Apple and Nvidia have priority at TSMC, even Intel has more money to go 3nm before AMD is able to use it. If AMD will use TSMC 4/5n instead of 3n, money is the reason.
Starting to miss ATi, at least they focused solely on GPUs. AMD don't and never will.'
Atleast AMD fixed the massive power spike issues present in 6800 and 6900 series with 7000 series tho.
Edit: Nvm I see its the 6950XT.
No, I do not believe. They're just different methodologies.
1/once AMD got out of their drought at the high-end, Nvidia did a move in the shadows.
2/ People were just less willing to "overpay" on the AMD sides when sapphire exist and offer similar cooler performance for cheaper. The was strix RX 6800 was almost as expensive as the RX 6800Xt nitro +!!!! (But that's assuming that most AMD customers are looking for value first and foremost above all else)
Cyberpunk in pure raster, haha. Sigh. Enable DLSS/DLAA and/or Frame Gen and the Nvidia cards would leave the AMD GPU in the dust. Anyone who thinks Cyberpunk 2077 should be played on an AMD card has absolutely no clue. It's like an Nvidia tech showcase and it runs on all cylinders here. Every Nvidia feature is perfectly implemented. FSR is horrible in this game. XeSS beats FSR with ease.
Watch Dogs Legion, you are grasping at straws I see. Did 4090 win big in all the other games since you left them out?