Nvidia Corp. became the second major chip maker subpoenaed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) over an antitrust investigation into the market for graphics chips and cards, the company said Friday. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) was subpoenaed a day earlier.
Nvidia, one of the world’s largest graphics processor makers, said no specific allegations have been made against it, and that it plans to cooperate with the DOJ in the investigation.
The DOJ has not said specifically what it is investigating, but it has taken a hard line on price fixing in the chip industry in recent years. As of mid-November, the DOJ had charged four companies and 17 people in a DRAM (Dynamic RAM) price fixing investigation, securing fines totaling more than US$731 million [M]. In October, the DOJ began an investigation into the SRAM (Static RAM) market.
AMD recently entered the graphics chip business with its acquisition of ATI Technologies Inc., which was finalized in October. The company also said the DOJ has not made any allegations against AMD or ATI, and that it intends to cooperate with the investigation.
