Nvidia’s deal to buy Israeli game Run:ai wins unconditional EU approval

(Bloomberg) — Nvidia Corp. received unconditional approval from the European Union to buy Israeli startup Run:ai, which develops software to handle artificial intelligence computing resources.

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The European Commission said in a statement on Friday that the takeover did not pose any threats to competition across the 27-member bloc despite Nvidia’s position as “the leading producer of key hardware for AI applications used in the EU and beyond.”

“Our market investigations have assured us that other software options compatible with Nvidia devices will remain available on the market,” Teresa Ribera, the EU’s new antitrust chief, said in the statement.

Run:ai — which was founded by Omri Geller and Ronen Dar in 2018 — had been closely collaborating with Nvidia since 2020, the Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker said when it announced the purchase in April. It did not disclose terms of the deal, but the Calcalist The Israeli newspaper estimated the value of the deal at $700 million. Nvidia’s last major deal in Israel was the acquisition of Mellanox Technologies Ltd. Worth $7 billion in 2020.

Nvidia’s dominance in the AI ​​chip market has drawn domestic and global scrutiny. The company’s graphics processor units, which first became popular in video games, have become increasingly necessary for new systems used to train large language models and other artificial intelligence systems. While companies like Amazon.com Inc. Despite loosening Nvidia’s grip on the market, the huge demand for chips at the moment means they cost tens of thousands of dollars apiece and are in short supply.

The EU merger watchdog took over the investigation after a referral from the Italian Competition Authority under special powers allowing Brussels to investigate mergers – including technology deals – that do not meet revenue thresholds required for EU review.

These powers have been reined in following the recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union in a case relating to the blocking of Illumina Inc. From the acquisition of Grail Inc, which provides cancer screening services, for $7 billion. The EU merger control body illegally encouraged national regulators to make the request, the judges said. To investigate deals that typically fall below the sales thresholds for EU investigations. The court allowed the system to be used only when national oversight bodies demanding an EU-level review of the deal already have jurisdiction to conduct their own investigation.

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