Microsoft and Nvidia have quickly taken prime positions in the artificial intelligence revolution. The tech giants have a combined market value of $6.6 trillion (€6.16 trillion), making them two of the three largest companies in the world.

Microsoft's recent success has been underpinned by its $13 billion bet on OpenAI, the startup behind the ChatGPT chatbot, while Nvidia can boast the world's most advanced chips that are vital to running high-end AI systems.

But their good fortune means competition authorities in the United States are circling. Earlier this month, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reached a deal on how to investigate the two firms' dominant position in the AI space.

The FTC is set to focus on the close relationship between Microsoft and Open AI, whose parent company is a non-profit. The DOJ will, meanwhile, lead the investigation into Nvidia's competitive edge. The chipmaker has around 80% of the AI semiconductor market and is now valued at $3.32 trillion, up from just $364 billion two years ago.

"Big Tech has gained too much power in the last 15 years or so, and regulators have been asleep at the wheel," Simonetta Vezzoso, a lawyer and economist from Italy's Trento University, told DW. "Now they worry that they might be replaying the same game with AI and want to avoid that."

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