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US Justice Department reportedly probes Nvidia's $12.93B Hugging Face deal

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US Justice Department reportedly probes Nvidia's $12.93B Hugging Face deal

The US Justice Department is looking into Nvidia's planned acquisition of Hugging Face, the open-source platform. The report comes from two sources cited by Reuters, as relayed by The Decoder. According to those sources, department officials are asking whether the purchase could give Nvidia control over a key hub for distributing AI and hurt its competitors.

The deal is worth $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 Hugging Face deal is not the only thing under review. US antitrust regulators are also investigating Nvidia's acquisitions, investments, sales practices, and possible pressure on customers. That probe started under Joe Biden and has continued under Donald Trump. According to the sources, officials have also looked at Nvidia's acquisitions of SchedMD and Run:ai, along with its licensing deal with Groq. They are also checking whether Nvidia offered customers more AI chips if they bought Nvidia networking gear and Groq processors too.

Nvidia faces scrutiny in Europe as well. France's competition authority is investigating the company over alleged anticompetitive business practices. The regulator is concerned about the industry's dependence on Nvidia's CUDA programming software and about Nvidia's stakes in cloud providers like CoreWeave. It pointed to possible risks such as supply restrictions, unfair contract terms, and discrimination against certain customers.

Key facts

  • Two sources cited by Reuters say the US Justice Department is looking into Nvidia's planned $12.93 billion acquisition of Hugging Face; Nvidia expects it to close in the first half of 2027.
  • Officials are asking whether the deal could give Nvidia control over a key hub for distributing AI and hurt its competitors.
  • A wider US probe covers Nvidia's acquisitions, investments, sales practices and possible pressure on customers; it began under Joe Biden and has continued under Donald Trump.
  • Officials have also looked at the SchedMD and Run:ai acquisitions and the Groq licensing deal, and are checking whether Nvidia offered more AI chips to customers who also bought its networking gear and Groq processors.
  • France's competition authority is separately investigating Nvidia, citing concern about dependence on CUDA and Nvidia's stakes in cloud providers like CoreWeave.

Why it matters

Hugging Face is described as a key hub for distributing AI, and the reported question is whether owning it would give Nvidia control over that hub and hurt competitors. Nvidia already supplies the AI chips; the scrutiny covers both its deals and the way it sells. The $12.93 billion price and the expected close in the first half of 2027 set the stakes and the timeline.

Who it affects

Nvidia and Hugging Face are directly involved. Nvidia's rivals and its customers are also in view: officials are checking whether customers were offered more AI chips if they bought Nvidia networking gear and Groq processors too. In France, the regulator is looking at cloud providers such as CoreWeave, in which Nvidia holds stakes, and at the industry's dependence on CUDA.

How to use it

There is nothing to adopt here; this is a regulatory story. Anyone who builds on Hugging Face or buys Nvidia hardware can follow it for the first-half-2027 closing target. Nvidia's stated position is that Hugging Face will keep supporting partnerships with a range of chip, cloud, and AI providers.

How solid is it

The US part rests on two unnamed sources cited by Reuters; The Decoder relays it. Only that officials are looking into the deal is reported. No formal action, lawsuit or decision by the Justice Department is reported, and no Justice Department comment is quoted. The French investigation is stated as fact in the article, with the regulator's concerns described.

Risks and caveats

Looking into a deal is not the same as blocking it, and no fine, penalty or remedy is mentioned for either the US or the French investigation. No timescale is given for the French probe, and the article gives no start date for the US probe beyond saying it began under Biden. The questions officials are asking are reported concerns, not findings.