BRUSSELS, July 1 (Reuters) - French antitrust regulators

are preparing to charge Nvidia ( NVDA ) for allegedly

anti-competitive practices, people with direct knowledge of the

matter said, making it the first enforcer to do so.

The French so-called statement of objections or charge sheet

would follow dawn raids in the graphics cards sector in

September last year which sources said targeted Nvidia ( NVDA ).

The world's largest maker of chips used both for artificial

intelligence and for computer graphics has seen demand for its

chips jump following the release of the generative AI

application ChatGPT late last year, triggering regulatory

scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic.