France says Nvidia antitrust probe is nearing its end
France said its Nvidia probe is nearing the end, tightening scrutiny on a chipmaker central to the AI boom and the power of a few suppliers.
France’s competition authority said Thursday that its Nvidia probe was nearing its end, a procedural step that still matters because the company sits at the center of the AI hardware stack. The review keeps one of the world’s most influential chipmakers under close watch as regulators weigh whether the AI buildout is concentrating too much power in too few hands.
The Autorité de la concurrence has been examining Nvidia alongside a wider push into generative AI market structure. It opened an ex officio inquiry and public consultation on February 8, 2024, then issued Opinion 24-A-05 on June 28, 2024 on the competitive functioning of the generative artificial intelligence sector. The authority said that consultation gathered views from around 40 parties and 10 stakeholder associations, giving it a broad read on how the market is developing.
Its 2024 annual report framed the policy worries in concrete terms: concentration of cloud capacity, data and talent, barriers to entry, and strategic partnerships that could lock up the sector. Those same pressure points explain why Nvidia has become such a sensitive test case. Its chips remain essential for training and running large AI systems, and control over that hardware can shape not only who builds the next generation of models, but also how much those systems cost to deploy.
The latest step follows a longer enforcement trail. French authorities carried out unannounced inspections at Nvidia offices in Paris and Nice in September 2023, and France confirmed an investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices in July 2024. General Rapporteur Umberto Berkani said the probe was now nearing completion, but the authority has not said whether it will close the case, move toward sanctions, or impose behavioral remedies.
That uncertainty matters beyond France. If the authority closes the matter without action, Nvidia gains some relief from regulatory risk in a market where chip supply is already tight and customer dependence is high. If it takes action, the fallout could reach pricing, sales terms, and related software or services tied to AI development in France, setting an example for other regulators in Europe and beyond.
The authority’s recent record shows it is willing to use its powers aggressively. In 2024 it imposed €1.4 billion in fines, its second-highest annual total on record. And it has kept AI high on its agenda: after Opinion 24-A-05, it announced new inquiries into conversational agents on January 9, 2026, signaling that scrutiny of AI gatekeepers is moving from a one-off probe to a broader regulatory campaign.
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