The U.S. Department of Justice has asked questions about how Nvidia’s $12.93 billion deal to buy Hugging Face, an open-source artificial intelligence platform, would affect competition in artificial intelligence, Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.
Officials have reportedly asked whether the deal would let Nvidia capture a fundamental distribution point for AI, how Nvidia might use the platform to gain leverage over rivals, and about Hugging Face’s competitors.
The questions sit within a broader, years-long Justice Department examination of Nvidia’s conduct, covering its acquisitions, investments, sales practices and whether it has put pressure on customers. That examination has also covered its SchedMD purchase, its 2025 Groq technology-licensing deal and its Run:ai acquisition.
Nvidia has said the acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2027 and that Hugging Face would continue to support work with a range of chip, cloud and AI providers. Nvidia declined to comment, the Justice Department declined to comment on matters before it, and Hugging Face representatives did not respond to Reuters.
It is important to be clear about what this means: a government investigation is not evidence of wrongdoing, and it does not necessarily lead to a lawsuit or other action. Reuters reported no indication of involvement by President Trump.
Source: Reuters
