ANTITRUST | The EC clears a below-threshold concentration communicated by the AGCM

On 20 December 2024, the European Commission (EC) unconditionally approved the proposed acquisition (Concentration) of Run:ai Labs Ltd (“Run:ai”) by NVIDIA Corporation (NVIDIA). Although the Concentration did not have a European dimension, since it did not fulfil the threshold established by the European Merger Control Regulation (EUMR), the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) nevertheless notified the EC of the Concentration via the mechanism under Article 22 (1) EUMR, in the exercise of its call-in powers. In the EC’s view, the Concentration did not raise any competition concerns in the markets for the supply of discrete GPUs for use in datacentres and GPU orchestration software, having considered that (a) NVIDIA did not have the technical ability nor the incentive to make its products compatible with those offered by its competitors and (b) Run:ai did not have a significant market position and its customers might have continued to have access to sufficiently reliable alternatives.

Newsletter n. 103 – January 2025