Key highlights:
- The US Justice Department (DOJ) is examining Nvidia’s plan to buy Hugging Face for $12.93 billion and what that could mean for competition in the AI industry.
- Officials want to know if the deal would let Nvidia control a key AI model-sharing platform, possibly making it harder for rivals to compete.
- The review also covers how Nvidia sells its products, its other deals, and whether some customers got better access to AI chips if they bought extra items.
- Nvidia expects the deal to go through in the first half of 2027, but the review is ongoing and no one has decided if any laws were broken.
Nvidia’s plan to buy Hugging Face has caught the attention of US antitrust officials as the company continues to expand its influence in artificial intelligence. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has begun questioning the massive $12.93 billion deal. These questions are part of a broader review of Nvidia’s business that began under President Joe Biden and has continued under President Donald Trump.
Officials are trying to figure out how Nvidia’s many deals, investments, and relationships are changing the shape of the market. Right now, there’s no proof that Nvidia has broken any laws, and it’s not clear if the DOJ will go further.
DOJ Examines Nvidia’s Potential Control Over AI Distribution
One big concern is the position Hugging Face holds in the AI ecosystem. It’s a popular site for sharing and finding AI models, which makes it especially important for anyone building AI technology. Reuters says DOJ officials are asking whether Nvidia’s purchase would give it too much power over AI model distribution. They’re looking at whether Nvidia could use the Hugging Face platform to harm rivals or get an even stronger leverage on the market.
This is happening as Nvidia already leads the AI chip market. These powerful chips run the big systems behind tools like ChatGPT and Claude from Anthropic. Nvidia has helped expand the data centers that handle the growing need for AI computing power.
So, owning Hugging Face would let Nvidia do more than sell the hardware, it could influence the software side too. At this point, the DOJ is just asking what might happen, not saying Nvidia has actually done anything wrong. Nvidia says Hugging Face will keep working with other chip and cloud companies after the deal. They still expect to finish the purchase in the first half of 2027.
🇺🇸 Nvidia wants to buy Hugging Face, and the U.S. government has questions. Hugging Face is the go-to site for sharing AI models, and Nvidia agreed to buy it for $12.9 billion. That’s caught the Justice Department’s eye, with officials asking whether the deal would hand Nvidia a key AI gateway to use against rivals, insiders say. It’s part of a wider probe that began under Biden and carried on under Trump, looking at Nvidia’s deals and whether it leaned on customers. That includes whether Nvidia offered more AI chips to customers who also bought its other products. Still, a probe doesn’t mean wrongdoing, and Nvidia says Hugging Face will keep working with all kinds of providers. With the deal not closing until 2027, more questions could come. Source: Reuters / Writer: Daniyal
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) October 28, 2026
Investigation Extends to Nvidia’s Other Deals and Sales Practices
The Hugging Face case isn’t the only thing catching DOJ’s attention. Officials are looking into Nvidia’s other purchases, sales tactics, and how it deals with customers. One example: the DOJ looked at Nvidia’s 2025 buyout of SchedMD, a company that makes open-source software to run supercomputers, some of which are tied to national security. This worried some AI experts, but Nvidia promised to keep the software open and supported.
The DOJ also examined Nvidia’s deal with Groq, a chip startup. Nvidia bought technology and hired staff from Groq, and investigators are checking if Nvidia gave customers better deals on its AI chips when they also bought networking equipment or Groq products. This matters because it could let Nvidia use its top spot in the chip market to expand elsewhere.
Authorities are also reviewing Nvidia’s takeover of Run:ai, which builds tools to help AI chips work better. All of this comes at a time when other tech companies are trying to challenge Nvidia’s position. Broadcom and Google are making their own special chips, and AMD claims it can make even better hardware and it has already struck billion-dollar deals with AI labs and cloud providers.
Despite the competition, Nvidia remains a central player in the AI industry, making its business decisions significant for other technology companies. The DOJ hasn’t commented on details of the investigation, and a spokesperson declined to comment on specific matters, while stating that the administration wants to keep up with advances in AI. Nvidia didn’t answer questions from Reuters, and Hugging Face hasn’t responded either.
This review could change how Nvidia handles future deals, but for now, there’s no final word. These kinds of investigations can go on for years and often end without a lawsuit. As it stands, Nvidia’s buyout of Hugging Face is still uncertain, as officials figure out how it could affect competition, customers, and Nvidia’s growing place in the world of artificial intelligence.
