The European Commission has been informally collecting views on potentially abusive practices in the sector for so-called graphics processing units, to understand if there could be the need for future intervention, people familiar with the matter said. The early stage investigation may never result in a formal probe or penalties.
The move from the bloc’s antitrust enforcers comes after the French competition watchdog earlier this week announced that it had raided the offices of a company suspected of engaging in “anticompetitive practices in the graphics cards sector.” The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that Nvidia was the target of the Paris raid.
Nvidia declined to comment. The European Commission didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The French competition authority couldn’t confirm that it was Nvidia hit by the raids this week. Representatives from the French finance and digital ministries declined to comment on the probe.