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.



Microsoft to Invest $3 Bln to Expand AI, Cloud Capacity in India

26 March 2021, Bavaria, Munich: The Microsoft logo hangs on the facade of an office building in Parkstadt Schwabing in the north of the Bavarian capital. (dpa)
26 March 2021, Bavaria, Munich: The Microsoft logo hangs on the facade of an office building in Parkstadt Schwabing in the north of the Bavarian capital. (dpa)
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Microsoft to Invest $3 Bln to Expand AI, Cloud Capacity in India

26 March 2021, Bavaria, Munich: The Microsoft logo hangs on the facade of an office building in Parkstadt Schwabing in the north of the Bavarian capital. (dpa)
26 March 2021, Bavaria, Munich: The Microsoft logo hangs on the facade of an office building in Parkstadt Schwabing in the north of the Bavarian capital. (dpa)

Microsoft will invest about $3 billion to expand capacity for artificial intelligence and its Azure cloud-computing services in India, CEO Satya Nadella said on Tuesday.

The tech giant is the latest to pledge investment in India, a country seen as a key growth market for US technology companies thanks to its population of more than 1.4 billion people and low-cost internet access.

Executives ranging from Nvidia chief Jensen Huang to Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun have visited India in recent months.

The $3 billion investment in India would be the "single largest expansion" done in the country, Nadella said at a conference in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru.

Microsoft will also train 10 million people in AI in India by 2030, Nadella said.

When Nadella visited India early last year, he announced the company will provide 2 million people in the country with AI skilling opportunities by 2025, focused on training individuals in smaller cities as well as rural areas.

Nadella met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, and the pair discussed "tech, innovation and AI" and "Microsoft's ambitious expansion and investment plans in India."

Microsoft has been pouring billions of dollars into expanding capacity across the globe to boost AI infrastructure and its data-center network.

The company last week unveiled plans to invest about $80 billion in fiscal 2025.

The investment, more than half of which will be in the United States, will focus on developing data centers to train AI models and deploy AI and cloud-based applications.