NVIDIA has been ordered to pay a US$5.5 million (~RM24 million) fine issued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), for not providing sufficient details about the effects that cryptomining has had on its gaming business.
As per the filing, NVIDIA reportedly failed to disclose to its investors that its creation and sales of crypto-ready GPUs were a significant factor in year-on-year growth for the company’s gaming revenue, back during the 2018 fiscal year, when the value of Bitcoin experienced a resurgence in value for a second time.
Back in 2021, NVIDIA launched its CMP lineup of GPUs, designed for the express purpose of mining cryptocurrency. Of course, it doesn’t actually help that there is an ongoing shortage of GPUs in the market, brought about by COVID-19 related supply and production issues.
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Ultimately, NVIDIA said that it will adhere to the SEC’s ruling and agreed to pay the fine. It goes without saying that the US$5.5 million is a mere pittance or, as the parlance goes, chump change: the GPU brand had reported revenue of US$9.7 billion (~RM42.4 billion) and profits of US$3 billion (~RM13.1 billion) in 2018. As of 2021, the company reported profits of US$9.7 billion (~RM42.4 billion).
On another note, this isn’t the first time NVIDIA has had to deal with this particular lawsuit. Back in 2021, a Northern District Court of California, dismissed the case, stating that the plaintiff lacked any evidence to prove that NVIDIA was under reporting its revenue.
(Source: SEC, Tom’s Hardware)
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