NVIDIA is the 'GPU cartel', will delay shipments if AI GPU customers talk to AI GPU competitors

NVIDIA is reportedly delaying AI GPU shipments if it finds out its customer is talking to AI GPU competitors like AMD or Intel, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.

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Jonathan Ross, CEO of rival chip startup Groq, told The Wall Street Journal: "A lot of people that we meet with say that if NVIDIA were to hear that we were meeting, they would disavow it. The problem is you have to pay NVIDIA a year in advance, and you may get your hardware in a year, or it may take longer, and it's, 'Aw shucks, you're buying from someone else, and I guess it's going to take a little longer.'"

Ex-NVIDIA GeForce and ex-AMD Radeon GPU boss Scott Herkelman chimed in on X, where posted: "This happens more than you expect, NVIDIA does this with DC customers, OEMs, AIBs, press, and resellers. They learned from GPP to not put it into writing. They just don't ship after a customer has ordered. They are the GPU cartel and they control all supply".

If this is true, it wouldn't be a surprise... NVIDIA doesn't want customers NOT buying its expensive, industry-leading AI GPU technology. Strong-arming the customers if they're speaking with a competitor? That doesn't sound good at all, but with an estimated 90%+ of the AI GPU market... NVIDIA can do whatever it wants, I guess.

We've got Microsoft, Google, and Amazon all using NVIDIA AI GPU hardware, but they're all also working on their own AI hardware. Interesting times ahead for the AI processor market, that's for sure.