Nvidia faces reported US competition inquiry after chief executive resigns

Semafor reported that one of several Justice Department inquiries concerns competition law and focuses on Nvidia, according to Dutch news agency ANP and Investing.com. ANP said Semafor cited two US government officials.

There was no indication that prosecutors intended to bring criminal charges against Nvidia or Jensen Huang, the reports said. ANP reported that Nvidia and the Justice Department declined to comment to Semafor.

The report comes after Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia’s chief executive on Thursday. Semafor also reported separate inquiries involving Megaspeed and Super Micro Computer that focus on the involvement of Alice Huang, according to ANP. A former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed, she had an affair with Jensen Huang, ANP reported. The two are not related.

Earlier this week, a shareholder lawsuit alleged that statements about Jensen Huang’s ties to Alice Huang and Nvidia’s business relationship with Megaspeed had misled investors.

US competition scrutiny of Nvidia predates the latest report. In September, Reuters reported that the Justice Department was investigating whether Nvidia had structured a licensing deal with AI chip start-up Groq to avoid antitrust scrutiny, citing The New York Times. It is unclear whether that is the inquiry described in the Semafor report.