US Justice Department reportedly examines Nvidia's $12.93 billion Hugging Face deal
Officials are also said to be looking at whether Nvidia tied chip supply to purchases of its networking gear and Groq processors.
The US Justice Department is looking into Nvidia's planned purchase of the open-source AI platform Hugging Face, The Decoder reports, citing two sources who spoke to Reuters. Officials are reportedly asking whether the deal could give Nvidia control over a key hub for distributing AI models and hurt its competitors. The acquisition is valued at $12.93 billion, and Nvidia expects it to close in the first half of 2027. Nvidia says Hugging Face will keep supporting partnerships with a range of chip, cloud and AI providers. The inquiry is part of a wider antitrust investigation into Nvidia's acquisitions, investments, sales practices and possible pressure on customers. That probe began under President Joe Biden and has continued under President Donald Trump. According to the sources, officials have also examined Nvidia's acquisitions of SchedMD and Run:ai and its licensing deal with Groq. They are checking whether Nvidia offered customers more AI chips if they also bought its networking equipment and Groq processors. Nvidia faces scrutiny in Europe as well. France's competition authority is investigating alleged anticompetitive practices, including the industry's dependence on Nvidia's CUDA software. The outcome could shape who controls both AI hardware and a central channel for distributing open models.