NVIDIA's French Office Reportedly Raided by Competition Regulators

[btarunr]

Bloomberg reports that French competition regulators have raided a business alleged to be engaging in "anti-competitive practices in the graphics cards sector," which the Wall Street Journal identified as NVIDIA. The dawn raid was authorized by a liberty and custody judge, France's competition authority said in its statement, where it did not name NVIDIA. The regulator clarified that raids "do not presuppose the existence of a breach of law, which only a full investigation into the merits of the case could establish, if appropriate."

It's pertinent to note here, that while the anti-competitive allegations concern "graphics cards," the allegation is that the company (identified by WSJ as NVIDIA) has cornered the AI GPU market, and which is responsible for the rise of NVIDIA as the largest hardware company in Silicon Valley by market capitalization. While NVIDIA's AI HPC processors lack any raster graphics components, they are still considered GPUs, as they are built on the same principles, and for the most part, share a microarchitecture with gaming GPUs. Meanwhile, Bloomberg notes that the NVIDIA stock remains completely unfazed by the developments in France. "The shares gained 1.5% to $430.89 at the close in New York trading Thursday, bringing their year-to-date gain to 195%," it wrote.



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[Shihab]

raids "do not presuppose the existence of a breach of law

So, a fishing expedition?

 

[evernessince]

So, a fishing expedition?

Most 1st world countries require a preponderance of evidence in order to execute a raid. By definition that is not a fishing expedition.

 

[Crackong]

That excellent movie with 2% story telling and 98% intense fighting.

 

[robinwak]

So, a fishing expedition?

Hey guys, frenchie here.

"Fishing expeditions" are of course illegal, the authorities (here the equivalent of a mix of the FTC and the Treasury in the US) need probable cause, or a judge would never allow it.
That means either they got a decent tip or they produced an important investigation package in front of a judge already.

Also, tech giants are under a lot of scrutiny in major EU countries and in Brussels. The EU strives to be the "legal normative default" power and thus is starting to flex its muscles.

 

[Shihab]

Most 1st world countries require a preponderance of evidence in order to execute a raid. By definition that is not a fishing expedition.

And the said evidence would point to the existence of...?

Also, tech giants are under a lot of scrutiny in major EU countries and in Brussels. The EU strives to be the "legal normative default" power and thus is starting to flex its muscles.

Starting? Haven't they been doing that for two decades now?

 

[Space Lynx]

It will be interesting to see what evidence is presented against Nvidia, regardless of outcome or severity, we all know it will just be a slap on the wrist even if severe evidence is presented.

And the said evidence would point to the existence of...?


Starting? Haven't they been doing that for two decades now?

Well, this just happened, so you will have to wait for it to go through the courts and the evidence to become public, most likely after a trial. So, it will be awhile before we know what the evidence is I would guess.

 

[Bwaze]

Also, tech giants are under a lot of scrutiny in major EU countries and in Brussels. The EU strives to be the "legal normative default" power and thus is starting to flex its muscles.

And I'm sure whatever the alleged wrongdoings are there will be no serious persecution. Sure, there could be some fines that sound impressive to us regular mortals, but in the term of company revenue they are allways miniscule.

If there are more serious allegations there's allways threatening that Europe might well be cut off from this vital service of modern world (Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft etc.), and then we're back in the realm of minor fines.

 

[Zubasa]

So, a fishing expedition?

No, it is just "legal speak".
The principle of Presumption of Innocence. Just like everyone else, nVidia is "innocent until proven guilty" in court.
Not sure if that is how French law works, but it is how it is suppose to be in US and UK based systems.

 

[Shihab]

Well, this just happened, so you will have to wait for it to go through the courts and the evidence to become public, most likely after a trial. So, it will be awhile before we know what the evidence is I would guess.

My issue (if one was generous enough to call it such) is with the language of the quoted statement, not the evidence itself, tbh. Could be a hi def recording of Huang handing some official an open briefcase full of $$$ for all I care, just call things as they are. You raided a business? Well then you did so with suspicions or knowledge that a crime was taking or did take place.

Not a very big matter to dwell on, I know. Wasn't expecting anyone to pay much attention. *shrugs*

 

[Space Lynx]

My issue (if one was generous enough to call it such) is with the language of the quoted statement, not the evidence itself, tbh. Could be a hi def recording of Huang handing some official an open briefcase full of $$$ for all I care, just call things as they are. You raided a business? Well then you did so with suspicions or knowledge that a crime was taking or did take place.

Not a very big matter to dwell on, I know. Wasn't expecting anyone to pay much attention. *shrugs*

raiding is the term they have always used for these types of things, I don't think it means anything special to us anymore, its just another word. I understand what you mean now though

 

[robinwak]

And the said evidence would point to the existence of...?


Starting? Haven't they been doing that for two decades now?

They started two decades ago by issuing small fines. But now with the new legislative package and Data Protection Act they can take a share of the Global Revenue of a Company (up to 5% if memory serves). Meta and Google both got fines counting in billion of euros and the new Musk-owned Twitter had to curb its expectations and local regulations regarding data transfer and privacy.

My best friend is a department director in AI Research at Google in Paris and he always tells me how the company is constantly pissed at the EU consumer protection regulations, so hey, that means it's kinda working

 

[kapone32]

No, it is just "legal speak".
The principle of Presumption of Innocence. Just like everyone else, nVidia is "innocent until proven guilty" in court.
Not sure if that is how French law works, but it is how it is suppose to be in US and UK based systems.

US law is based on the French model as the British model was unwanted after the revolution. There were no more White Wigs after that.

 

[Vayra86]

Most 1st world countries require a preponderance of evidence in order to execute a raid. By definition that is not a fishing expedition.

Oh? So what is the 'bait' then in this analogy huh

 

[kondamin]

couple of other businesses that should be raided before nvidia.

i also wonder if a company like nvidia wouldn’t just have everyone work on remote desktops that store everything on a server with the most resource intensive encryption locking up all communication between client and server.

 

[Deleted member 185088]

All those companies aim to become monopolies, the issue is when they are found "guilty" the punishment isn't enough, just look at Intel, AMD still suffering from their shady practice. Companies should be split and the leadership involved banned from working in executive positions

 

[stimpy88]

About time. We could do with an investigation into the CEO's of these two colluding together to manipulate the market, which they obviously are.

 

[AsRock]

Hey guys, frenchie here.

"Fishing expeditions" are of course illegal, the authorities (here the equivalent of a mix of the FTC and the Treasury in the US) need probable cause, or a judge would never allow it.
That means either they got a decent tip or they produced an important investigation package in front of a judge already.

Also, tech giants are under a lot of scrutiny in major EU countries and in Brussels. The EU strives to be the "legal normative default" power and thus is starting to flex its muscles.

So are they as bad at their job ?, as the FTC is a load of bollocks in the US.

 

[JAB Creations]

Nvidia is a totally fair corporation that would never screw it's users or it's competition. There is no way that they would ever try to commit one crime, let alone actually be a criminal organization!

Because it's not like 444 example of people falling for this.

 

[AusWolf]

My emotional side says f*** yeah, go for it, boys! But my logical side says being the first in developing a technology while the rest of the industry is lagging behind is hardly anti-competitive behaviour.

 

[stimpy88]

My emotional side says f*** yeah, go for it, boys! But my logical side says being the first in developing a technology while the rest of the industry is lagging behind is hardly anti-competitive behaviour.

That's the least of what they do. Think more about price gouging, aligning prices with competitors, withholding stock/punishing AIB partners for offers or dealing with AMD, forbidding offers and sales etc etc.

 

[forman313]

It will be interesting to see what evidence is presented against Nvidia, regardless of outcome or severity, we all know it will just be a slap on the wrist even if severe evidence is presented.

Its the French. Slaps are not part of their arsenal. High fines and sales ban are often seen.

You don´t mess with consumers or the little guy in France. Revolution is in their blood. I remember a tax hike some years ago... a suburb got burnt down.


We have a lot to learn.

 

[trsttte]

If there are more serious allegations there's allways threatening that Europe might well be cut off from this vital service of modern world (Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft etc.), and then we're back in the realm of minor fines.

The EU comprises 1.5x more customers than the US. The ammounts spent might be more conservative but it's still a lot more customers and a large part of their businesses, no way they're dropping our market.

Data Protection Act they can take a share of the Global Revenue of a Company (up to 5% if memory serves)

For RGPD violations is up to 20 million or 4% of global revenue, whatever is higher

being the first in developing a technology while the rest of the industry is lagging behind is hardly anti-competitive behaviour

What technology would that be? They're mostly the best performant in a lot of areas but I don't think they're doing anything particularly unique. Some of the strategies to remain the dominant player in the market are utter crap and very anticompetitive like purchase bundles or promotional prices in return for exclusivity. Not that AMD are saints for that matter, as the recent FSR exclusivity debacle showed.

Good on France, hit them well and hit them hard!

 

[AusWolf]

What technology would that be?

Integrating AI cores into a GPU and finding use cases for them (regardless of my opinion on those use cases).