(Reuters) – Chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ: ) has completed its acquisition of Israeli artificial intelligence firm Run:ai, the startup said on Monday, following antitrust scrutiny of the buyout.
The European Commission gave unconditional approval to Nvidia’s $700 million bid for Run:ai, which helps developers optimize infrastructure for AI, earlier in December after it said in October that the deal would require EU antitrust approval.
The European Antimonopoly Agency warned that the agreement threatens competition in the markets where the companies operate.
The investigation into the deal focused on practices that could strengthen Nvidia’s grip on the market for graphics processing units (GPUs), which are in-demand chips often used in tasks related to artificial intelligence.
Nvidia dominates the AI graphics processor market and holds around 80% of its share.
However, the European Commission concluded earlier in December that the acquisition of Run:ai, originally announced in April, would not raise competition concerns.
The US Department of Justice is also investigating the chip giant’s purchase of Run:ai for antitrust reasons, Politico reported in August.
Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic have recently stepped up scrutiny of startup acquisitions by tech giants amid concerns that such deals could shut out potential rivals.
Run:ai plans to make its software open source, according to a blog post.
“Although Run:ai currently only supports Nvidia GPUs, the open source software will allow it to expand its availability to the entire artificial intelligence ecosystem,” it said.
