The Supreme Court has rejected CPU juggernaut Nvidia's bid to drop an investor-led class-action lawsuit alleging the company undercut GPU sales related to crypto mining.
In a Dec. 11 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Nvidia's request without explanation. The decision means the lawsuit will continue to move forward, even though it was initially dismissed by a California district court in March 2021.
“We would have preferred a ruling that affirmed the trial court's dismissal of the lawsuit, but we are fully prepared to continue our defense,” an Nvidia spokesperson told Decrypt. “Consistent and predictable standards in securities litigation are essential to protecting shareholders and ensuring a strong economy, and we are committed to supporting them.”
The ruling follows US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Senior Counsel Theodore Weiman saying the case should be allowed to proceed to the Supreme Court. The comments were included in an amicus brief from the Justice Department and the SEC in support of the investors' allegations.
“The judgment of the Court of Appeal must be affirmed,” the document concludes.
The lawsuit initially accused a group of Nvidia shareholders, founded in 2018, of concealing more than $1 billion in GPU sales to cryptocurrency miners and the company's CEO downplaying sales related to cryptocurrency mining.
In the year In the first quarter of 2021, Nvidia earned $155 million from cryptocurrency mining-related sales alone. In the same year, the company launched a line of CMP cards dedicated to the crypto-mining market and tried to match the mining performance of other new cards.
Despite the company's huge profits from crypto, the company's chief technology officer, Michael Kagan, said at the end of March 2023 that crypto “doesn't do anything good for society.”
The comments come as the GPU maker has invested heavily in developing products specifically focused on artificial intelligence (AI) development rather than crypto mining. November reports indicated that Nvidia saw record-breaking third-quarter revenue and earnings for fiscal 2025, driven primarily by the company's dominance in the AI and accelerated computing space.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
Daily Debrief Newspaper
Start every day with top news stories, plus original features, podcasts, videos and more.
