European Union: Announced European Commission approval of acquisition of Run:ai Labs by NVIDIA under the EU Merger Regulation

On 20 December 2024, the European Commission (EC) unconditionally approved the proposed acquisition of Run:ai Labs (Run:ai) by NVIDIA. The Commission investigated the transaction's impact on the markets for discrete GPUs for data centres and GPU orchestration software. NVIDIA designs and supplies GPUs for data centre applications, while Run:ai provides GPU orchestration software. Although their activities do not overlap, the Commission assessed whether NVIDIA could hamper the compatibility of its GPUs with competing GPU orchestration software post-transaction. The investigation found that NVIDIA likely holds a dominant position in the global market for discrete GPUs for data centres but lacks the technical ability and incentive to hamper compatibility due to the availability of tools ensuring such compatibility. Run:ai does not hold a significant market position for GPU orchestration software, and customers have access to sufficient alternatives. The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would not raise competition concerns in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Italy and cleared the transaction unconditionally. Italy submitted a referral request to the European Commission under Article 22(1) of the EUMR, which allows Member States to request the Commission to examine mergers that do not have an EU dimension but affect trade within the Single Market and threaten to significantly impact competition within the requesting Member State's territory. The Commission accepted Italy's request on October 31, 2024, and the transaction was formally notified to the Commission on November 15, 2024.