$568 million of GPUs allegedly misused for crypto mining caught in tax evasion and money laundering probe — EU claims 10,000 Nvidia H100 units acquired by Northern Data may not have been used for AI

European authorities are investigating Northern Data AG over allegations of tax incentive fraud related to the purchase of $568 million worth of high-performance GPUs, according to Bloomberg. The criminal investigation aims to determine whether the company misrepresented its GPU usage and utilized the data center for cryptocurrency mining rather than performing AI-related computing. However, while it makes sense to procure 10,000 H100 GPUs at a discount, it does not make sense to use them for mining.