The US Justice Department is asking whether Nvidia’s planned acquisition of Hugging Face would give the chipmaker control over an important channel for distributing AI models, CPI reported on 28 October, relaying a Reuters account based on two people familiar with the matter. Nvidia agreed in early September to buy the platform, where developers find, test and deploy models and datasets. The department’s questions concern what ownership of that platform could allow Nvidia to do in the AI market.
Key points
- US antitrust officials are asking whether Nvidia could gain control of a significant route for distributing AI models through Hugging Face.
- The inquiries sit alongside a longer-running Justice Department examination of Nvidia’s acquisitions, investments and sales practices.
- CPI puts the transaction at $12.93 billion; Bloomberg reports a price of about $13 billion.
- Nvidia expects to complete the acquisition in the first half of 2027.
Hugging Face and AI distribution
Officials want to know whether Nvidia could capture a foundational distribution point for AI by owning Hugging Face, the people familiar with the inquiry said. That question reaches beyond the sale of chips. Developers use the platform to work with models and datasets, so its ownership would put Nvidia on another part of the route by which AI systems reach users. The officials’ questions concern the possible effect of the transaction on competition, rather than a finding that Nvidia has used the platform to disadvantage anyone.
CPI reported a purchase price of $12.93 billion. Bloomberg reported that Nvidia’s agreement was for about $13 billion. Hugging Face had annualised revenue of about $150 million, according to the CPI account of earlier reporting. The platform’s place in model distribution, rather than that revenue figure alone, is the subject of the officials’ reported questions.
Nvidia has said Hugging Face would continue working with a range of chip, cloud and AI providers after the acquisition. Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive, said when the deal was announced that developers would not need Nvidia hardware to build on or deploy through the platform. Those assurances address access for developers. The department’s reported inquiry asks what control of the platform could mean for competition among the companies whose products developers use there.
The Justice Department’s wider Nvidia examination
The questions about Hugging Face run alongside a Justice Department examination of Nvidia’s business that began under President Joe Biden and has continued under President Donald Trump. Officials have asked about acquisitions and investments, how Nvidia sells its products and whether it has pressured customers. The department’s interest in the platform is therefore one part of an inquiry that also covers the chipmaker’s conduct with customers and its other deals.
Officials have also examined Nvidia’s December 2025 purchase of SchedMD, whose open-source software is used to run supercomputers, including systems relevant to national security. AI specialists raised concerns about continued access to the software after that deal, and Nvidia has pledged to keep it open and supported. Continued access is similarly central to Nvidia’s assurances about Hugging Face, though the products and the department’s reported questions about them differ.
The department has investigated whether Nvidia structured its $20 billion licensing agreement with AI chip startup Groq to avoid antitrust review, CPI reported. Nvidia obtained rights to Groq’s technology under the arrangement announced in December. Licensing and hiring arrangements generally fall outside the pre-merger notification rules applied to large acquisitions under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. A purchase the size of the Hugging Face transaction requires a filing, which gives the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission a formal period to review it before completion.
Nvidia’s expected 2027 closing
An inquiry does not itself establish wrongdoing or require the department to bring a case. The broader examination may end without department action. Nvidia previously faced a challenge from the Federal Trade Commission, which sued in December 2021 to block its proposed $40 billion acquisition of Arm. Nvidia abandoned that transaction in 2022.
Nvidia declined to comment on the inquiries, while Hugging Face did not respond to a request for comment. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to discuss matters before the agency, citing its longstanding policy, and said the department would continue to prioritise the “advancement of Super Intelligence” for Americans. There was no indication that Trump had been involved in the examination. Nvidia expects the Hugging Face transaction to close in the first half of 2027.
