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Nvidia Closes $700 mln Run:ai Acquisition after Regulatory Hurdles

A view of a Nvidia logo at their headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan May 31, 2023. (Reuters)
A view of a Nvidia logo at their headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan May 31, 2023. (Reuters)
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Nvidia Closes $700 mln Run:ai Acquisition after Regulatory Hurdles

A view of a Nvidia logo at their headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan May 31, 2023. (Reuters)
A view of a Nvidia logo at their headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan May 31, 2023. (Reuters)

Chipmaker Nvidia has completed its acquisition of AI firm Run:ai, the startup said on Monday, following antitrust scrutiny over the buyout.

The European Commission granted unconditional approval to Nvidia's $700 million bid for Run:ai, which helps developers optimize infrastructure for AI, earlier in December after saying in October that the deal would require EU antitrust clearance.

The EU antitrust watchdog had warned that the deal threatened competition in the markets where the companies operate.

Its probe into the deal focused on practices that could strengthen Nvidia's control over the market for graphics processing units (GPUs), which are the sought-after chips often employed in AI-linked tasks, Reuters reported.

Nvidia dominates the market for AI graphics processors and commands about 80% of its share.

However, the European Commission concluded earlier in December that Run:ai's acquisition, originally announced in April, would not raise competition concerns.

The US Department of Justice is also investigating the chip giant's buyout of Run:ai on antitrust grounds, Politico had reported in August.

Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic have recently stepped up their scrutiny of tech giants' acquisitions of startups on concerns that such deals may shut down potential rivals.

Run:ai plans to make its software open-source, it said in a blog post.

"While Run:ai currently supports only Nvidia GPUs, open sourcing the software will enable it to extend its availability to the entire AI ecosystem," it said.

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US Self-driving Car Companies Seek Boost under Trump

A Ford Fusion hybrid, Level 4 autonomous vehicle, used by Ford Motor and Domino's Pizza to test a self-driving pizza delivery car in Michigan, is displayed during Press Days of the North American International Auto Show at Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan, US, January 16, 2018. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo
A Ford Fusion hybrid, Level 4 autonomous vehicle, used by Ford Motor and Domino's Pizza to test a self-driving pizza delivery car in Michigan, is displayed during Press Days of the North American International Auto Show at Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan, US, January 16, 2018. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo
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US Self-driving Car Companies Seek Boost under Trump

A Ford Fusion hybrid, Level 4 autonomous vehicle, used by Ford Motor and Domino's Pizza to test a self-driving pizza delivery car in Michigan, is displayed during Press Days of the North American International Auto Show at Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan, US, January 16, 2018. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo
A Ford Fusion hybrid, Level 4 autonomous vehicle, used by Ford Motor and Domino's Pizza to test a self-driving pizza delivery car in Michigan, is displayed during Press Days of the North American International Auto Show at Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan, US, January 16, 2018. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo

A group representing self-driving car companies on Tuesday called on the US government to do more to speed the deployment of autonomous vehicles and remove barriers to adoption.

"The federal government is the one that needs to lead when it comes to vehicle design, construction and performance, and we just have not seen enough action out of the federal government in recent years," Jeff Farrah, who heads the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, said in an interview.

The group includes Volkswagen Ford, Alphabet's Waymo, Amazon.com's Zoox, Uber and others, Reuters reported.

The group released a policy framework calling on the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) to "assert its responsibility over the design, construction, and performance of autonomous vehicles and increase its efforts in key areas."

The group added that "federal inaction has created regulatory uncertainty" and warned China is determined to take the United States lead on autonomous vehicle technology.

"We want to make sure there is a clear pathway to getting these next-generation vehicles on the road," said Farrah.

"We have been frustrated by the lack of progress."

In December 2023, the group and others called on the USDOT to do more.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in an interview on Monday the government was ensuring that self-driving cars would be much better than human drivers.

"I think being very rigorous in these early stages is helping these technologies start to meet their potential to save lives," Buttigieg said, adding the oversight would boost public acceptance.

The industry faces scrutiny after a pedestrian was seriously injured in October 2023 by a General Motors Cruise vehicle. The USDOT has opened investigations into self-driving vehicles operated by Cruise, Waymo and Zoox.

The autonomous vehicle group wants Congress to clarify human controls are unnecessary in automated vehicles meeting performance standards and allow companies to disable a self-driving vehicles' manual controls. It also called for creating a national AV safety data repository that would be available to state transportation agencies.

Last month, the USDOT proposed streamlining reviews of petitions to deploy self-driving vehicles without human controls like steering wheels or brake pedals.

Efforts in Congress to make it easier to deploy robotaxis on US roads without human controls have been stymied for years but may be boosted when President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Reuters and other outlets have reported Trump wants to ease deployment barriers for self-driving vehicles. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a close adviser to Trump, said in October the automaker would roll out driverless ride-hailing services in 2025.