FTC and DOJ reportedly opening antitrust investigations into Microsoft, OpenAI, and Nvidia

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) reportedly agreed to split duties in investigating potential antitrust violations of Microsoft, OpenAI, and Nvidia, The New York Times reported.

The DOJ will lead inquiries into Nvidia, while the FTC will look into the deal between OpenAI and its largest investor, Microsoft.

The FTC began looking into potential antitrust issues related to the investments made by technology companies into smaller AI companies in January this year. The agency sent letters to Alphabet, Amazon, Anthropic, Microsoft, and OpenAI. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and Amazon are both investors in Anthropic.

The Verge reached out for comments from Microsoft and Nvidia but have not heard back. The FTC and DoJ declined to comment. OpenAI also declined to comment.

An investigation by the two agencies does not mean the Biden administration is opening cases against the three companies, but the Times pointed out that a similar deal in 2019 led to the government’s cases against Google, Apple, Amazon, and Meta.

Update, June 6th: Added that the DoJ and OpenAI declined to comment.