Open Markets Urges European Commission to Investigate Nvidia’s Planned Acquisition of Run:ai

BRUSSELS - The Open Markets Institute, alongside eight partner organizations, has made a detailed submission to the European Commission, urging it to fully investigate U.S. chipmaker Nvidia’s planned acquisition of workload management startup Run:ai.

The submission highlights our serious concerns around the acquisition. We worry that the transaction will help Nvidia reinforce its super-dominance in the supply of graphics processing units (GPUs) by integrating Run:ai software to build an additional barrier around its chip empire. This would be in line with its existing strategy which consists in developing its software business to strengthen its - already very powerful - position in GPUs. 

These advanced chips are critical for many downstream applications and markets, particularly cloud and AI, and Nvidia has become a key provider for the entire sector. This bottleneck undermines the ability of European AI companies to remain competitive and seriously threatens Europe’s resilience by increasing its dependence on a single, foreign supplier. We are concerned that the merger will further weaken the resilience of the entire AI stack.

The transaction could also help Nvidia to tie or bundle Run:ai software to its GPU chip and foreclose access to Run:ai software to competing chip suppliers (from semiconductor firms such as AMD and Intel to digital gatekeepers such as Meta, Google, and Amazon). We urge the Commission not to be misled by Nvidia’s announcement that Run:ai’s services will remain open- source as tech companies frequently deploy this terminology in ways that actually reinforce their market power.

Based on these concerns, our submission calls for the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP) to launch a full investigation of the takeover, focusing on the risks it poses to the entire AI sector.

“Nvidia’s acquisition of Run:ai is part of its global strategy to entrench its super-dominance in advanced GPUs and reinforce its role as an indispensable supplier. This stranglehold seriously endangers Europe’s resilience and ultimately hurts European citizens. We must not let one company manage the supply of such a critical input,” said Open Markets Institute Europe’s Research Fellow Claire Lavin. “We urge the Commission to acknowledge the threats arising from this merger and to open an in-depth investigation.”

Read the submission here.

The coalition of civil society organizations who participated in the submission also includes AI Now Institute, Article 19, Balanced Economy Project, Foxglove, Gentium, Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor (Idec), IT for Change, and SOMO.

Open Markets has published extensively about the growing threat of market concentration in the  AI sector, including two major reports “Stopping Big Tech From Becoming Big AI” (2024) and “AI in the Public Interest: Confronting the Monopoly Threat” (2023). It has also submitted observations to the UK Competition Authority (Competition Markets Authority) to voice its concerns over AI partnerships, including the Microsoft and OpenAI’s partnership.