Aug 1 (Reuters) - U.S. progressive groups and Democratic

Senator Elizabeth Warren pressed the Department of Justice to

investigate Nvidia ( NVDA ) over competition concerns, citing

the company's dominance of the market for the chips driving the

artificial-intelligence boom.

Demand Progress and nine other groups wrote a letter this

week urging Department of Justice antitrust chief Jonathan

Kanter to probe business practices at Nvidia ( NVDA ), whose market value

hit $3 trillion this summer on demand for chips able to run the

complex models behind generative AI.

The groups, which oppose monopolies and promote government

oversight of tech companies, among other issues, took aim at

Nvidia's ( NVDA ) bundling of software and hardware, a practice that

French antitrust enforcers have flagged as they prepare to bring

charges.

"This aggressively proprietary approach, which is strongly

contrary to industry norms about collaboration and

interoperability, acts to lock in customers and stifles

innovation," the groups wrote.

In June, Reuters reported a deal was reached among U.S.

regulators that directs the Justice Department to oversee

potential antitrust probes into Nvidia ( NVDA ), while the Federal Trade

Commission is looking at Microsoft ( MSFT ) and OpenAI.

An Nvidia ( NVDA ) spokesperson said the company spent billions of

dollars developing AI-capable computing technology before demand

existed, and is "committed to opening new markets and growth

opportunities for our partner ecosystem."

"Regulators need not be concerned, as we scrupulously adhere

to all laws and ensure that NVIDIA ( NVDA ) is openly available in every

cloud and on-prem for every enterprise," the spokesperson said.

"We'll continue to support aspiring innovators in every industry

and market and are happy to provide any information regulators

need."

Nvidia ( NVDA ) has roughly 80% of the AI chip market, including the

custom AI processors made by cloud computing companies like

Google, Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Amazon.com ( AMZN ). The chips made by the

cloud giants are not available for sale themselves but typically

rented through each platform.

Excluding the cloud providers' chips, Nvidia ( NVDA ) achieved nearly

100% market share. That domination helps the company report

gross margins between 70% and 80%.

Warren, a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, expressed

concerns about Nvidia's ( NVDA ) control of the market in a statement to

Reuters.

"Allowing a single company to effectively be the gatekeeper

for the world's AI future is dangerous and poses dire economic

risks. The DOJ is right to investigate Nvidia's ( NVDA ) anticompetitive

practices," she said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice declined to

comment.

Kanter said in an interview on CNBC on Friday, without

discussing Nvidia ( NVDA ) specifically, that antitrust enforcers are

concerned about areas where there are bottlenecks that companies

could take advantage of to exclude rivals.

"We want a world where, one, there is room for investment

and development and growth into new rivals and technologies," he

said.

Last year, Reuters reported that investments in the

semiconductor industry were down considerably in the face of

Nvidia's ( NVDA ) overwhelming market share.