BRUSSELS, Dec 6 (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators are

asking Nvidia ( NVDA ) rivals and customers if the U.S.

artificial intelligence chipmaker bundles its products that may

give it an unfair advantage, people with direct knowledge of the

matter said, in a move that may lead to a formal investigation.

Nvidia ( NVDA ), which has a near-monopoly with an 84% market share,

far ahead of rivals Intel ( INTC ) and AMD, has in

recent years attracted regulatory scrutiny from regulators in

the European Union, the United States, the UK, China and South

Korea.

The company has seen high demand from customers involved in

generative AI and accelerated computing for its chips.

The European Commission recently sent out questionnaires asking

if there is any commercial and technical tying of graphics

processing unit (GPU) products by Nvidia ( NVDA ), the sources said. The

document is separate from another related to Nvidia's ( NVDA ) proposed

buy of artificial intelligence startup Run:ai.

The EU competition enforcer wants to know how Nvidia ( NVDA ) sells

its GPU products to various customers and whether the contracts

require them to buy networking equipment with GPU, the sources

said.

The Commission declined to comment.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) said: "We support customer choice and compete on

merit across the board. Our products are best-in-class and able

to stand on their own. We support open industry standards,

enabling our partners and customers to use our products in a

wide variety of configurations and system designs."

Such questionnaires are usually part of the watchdog's

fact-finding procedures which could beef up initial concerns. EU

antitrust violations can cause companies fines as much as 10% of

their global annual turnover.

The French antitrust regulator is already investigating Nvidia ( NVDA )

and is preparing to hit the company with charges, other sources

told Reuters earlier this year.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )