Brussels, 31 October 2024
The European Commission has accepted the request submitted by Italy to assess the proposed acquisition of Run:ai Labs Ltd (‘Run:ai‘) by NVIDIA Corporation (‘NVIDIA‘) under the EU Merger Regulation (‘EUMR’).
NVIDIA is a US-based global supplier of graphics processing units (‘GPUs’) for datacentre applications. Run:ai, based in Israel, supplies GPU orchestration software allowing corporate customers to manage and optimise their artificial intelligence compute infrastructure, whether on premises, in the cloud or in hybrid environments.
The proposed acquisition does not reach the notification thresholds set out in the EUMR. It was notified in Italy, as required by the Italian Competition Act, upon request by the national competition authority, which used its “call in” powers. Such powers enable the Italian competition authority to review transactions not meeting the relevant national turnover thresholds when it finds that they pose concrete risks for competition and the other conditions laid down in the Italian Competition Act are met.
Italy submitted a referral request to the Commission pursuant to Article 22(1) of the EUMR. This provision allows Member States to request the Commission to examine a merger that does not have an EU dimension but affects trade within the Single Market and threatens to significantly affect competition within the territory of the Member State(s) making the request.
On the basis of the information at the Commission’s disposal, and without prejudice to the outcome of its full investigation, the Commission considers that the transaction meets the criteria for referral under Article 22 of the EUMR. In particular, the transaction threatens to significantly affect competition in the markets where NVIDIA and Run:ai are active, which are likely to be at least European Economic Area-wide and therefore include the referring country Italy. The Commission also concluded that it is best placed to examine the transaction given its knowledge and case experience in related markets.
The Commission has asked NVIDIA to notify the transaction. NVIDIA cannot implement the transaction before notifying and obtaining clearance from the Commission.
Source – EU Commission