A French Nvidia office has reportedly been raided amid ongoing investigations by the country’s competition authority into anti-competitive practices.
The Autorité de la Concurrence confirmed that, with the permission of a custodial judge, a raid took place on September 26.
The French competition authority said the case specifically concerns anti-competitive practices in the graphics card sector, in which Nvidia plays a significant role.
Nvidia is embroiled in an anti-competitive investigation
The California-based company has long been a firm favorite in computer hardware, but has recently found great success with its AI-focused chips.
The Autorité de la Concurrence said the raid in itself would not indicate any wrongdoing, but that only a full investigation would reveal this.
The French agency has not confirmed how the raid took place or whether any artefacts were seized, but these types of early-hour raids typically involve the seizure of physical and digital artefacts and sometimes the questioning of employees.
A press release confirming the raid reads: “Such dawn raids do not presuppose the existence of a violation of law attributable to the company involved in the alleged practices.”
Nvidia’s revenue figures have risen in recent quarters thanks to the success it has achieved with its chips, which have proven popular in the world of AI and supercomputing.
While popular with mainstream consumers, Intel, AMD and other chipmakers have struggled to reach the same heights as Nvidia, which is likely part of the reason France is keen to police the company for any wrongdoing.
TechRadar Pro asked Nvidia for comment on the matter, but the company declined.