Warren Raises National Security Concerns With NVIDIA’s Acquisition of Critical Software Used in Supercomputing Systems

Warren Raises National Security Concerns With NVIDIA's Acquisition of Critical Software Used in Supercomputing Systems

"If NVIDIA controls both AI chips and the software layers that make these chips work, they are in a position to box out competitors by making their hardware harder to deploy and harder to support."

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, raising concerns about NVIDIA's recent acquisition of SchedMD, the developer of critical software used for high-performance computing systems for defense and nuclear security. NVIDIA's acquisition may limit competition and further entrench its dominance over AI hardware and software. The deal also raises serious national security concerns as the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Energy (DOE), which operate systems that require SchedMD software, become increasingly reliant on NVIDIA.

"NVIDIA's acquisition of Slurm turns a once free software into one of NVIDIA's proprietary offerings, which may reduce competition and harm national security. This would give NVIDIA disproportionate control over a chokepoint that rival firms rely on to operate government supercomputers," wrote the Senator.

"As part of the acquisition, NVIDIA may obtain significant leverage over the supercomputing performance of its competitors like AMD," wrote the Senator. "This gives NVIDIA, whose chips power more than 76% of the world's most powerful supercomputers, even more control over a critical software layer. Over time, NVIDIA could optimize Slurm to work best with its own AI chips by prioritizing bug fixes and new features for their own chips, while degrading Slurm's compatibility with competitor chips."

In the letter, the Senator notes that along with NVIDIA's acquisition of SchedMD, NVIDIA's recent acquisitions and deals have given the company even more market control over the critical software and support that helps run data centers and supercomputing systems. Unchecked, DoD's and DOE's dependency on Slurm raises serious national security concerns, including by granting NVIDIA an anti-competitive vantage point over government systems used for critical defense functions.

The Senator concluded: "As your Departments invest in new supercomputing systems to 'secure American leadership in artificial intelligence (AI) for science, energy, and national security,' it is critical that the federal government preserves competition. Otherwise, dominant firms can hike prices, costing taxpayers, while stifling innovation and America's AI leadership. Locking in a single provider is also a bad deal for national security, because it creates chokepoints that foreign actors can exploit."

The Senator requests responses detailing the extent to which DOE and DoD systems depend on NVIDIA hardware or software, whether DOE or DoD has sought commitments to ensure that NVIDIA will keep critical software open source, and whether DOE or DoD has plans to preserve competition in the supercomputing sector by May 5, 2026.

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