DOJ Is Asking Questions About Nvidia's $12.93 Billion Hugging Face Deal, Reuters Reports
Antitrust officials want to know whether the deal would let Nvidia control a key distribution point for AI, as part of a wider look at the chipmaker's conduct.
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The U.S. Justice Department has made inquiries about how Nvidia's $12.93 billion purchase of Hugging Face would affect competition in AI. Reuters reported this on Oct. 28, citing two people familiar with the matter. According to those people, officials have asked whether the deal would let Nvidia "capture a fundamental distribution point for AI." The questions come as antitrust enforcers continue a years-long investigation into Nvidia's conduct.
Government investigations aren't evidence of wrongdoing, and this one may not lead to any action, Reuters noted.
What the DOJ is asking
According to Reuters' sources, officials want to know how Nvidia might use Hugging Face to harm rivals in AI, and whether owning it could give Nvidia more leverage. They are also asking about Hugging Face's competitors.
Hugging Face matters because of where it sits. Developers, researchers and companies use it to share, find and deploy open AI models and datasets. Nvidia's Sept. 3 announcement says more than 18 million people use it to share over 3 million models, and more than 200,000 companies use the platform. Nvidia already leads the market for AI chips. Owning Hugging Face would give the company a major role in how models reach developers too.
What Nvidia has promised
Nvidia agreed to the deal on Sept. 2. According to its Form 8-K filing, it includes about $11.9 billion for Hugging Face stockholders and an equity-based retention program of up to about $1 billion for employees who join Nvidia. Nvidia expects the deal to close in the first half of 2027, pending regulatory approvals.
In the filing, Nvidia committed to keeping Hugging Face open, "consistent with Hugging Face's existing practices." Users would still be able to upload and download the models and datasets of their choice, and the platform would keep supporting other chipmakers. CEO Jensen Huang wrote that "NVIDIA compute will not be required to build on or deploy through Hugging Face."
Nvidia declined to comment to Reuters, and Hugging Face did not respond. A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment on any matters before the department. The spokesperson said, "It would be inappropriate for the Department to conduct a merger investigation under the guise of a conduct investigation."
A wider look at Nvidia
Reuters reported that the broader examination began under President Joe Biden and has continued under President Donald Trump. The people said it covers Nvidia's acquisitions, investments, sales practices, and whether Nvidia has pressured customers.
- SchedMD: Nvidia's December 2025 purchase of the company behind open-source software that helps run supercomputers. Nvidia has promised to keep access open.
- Groq: Nvidia's 2025 deal to license the startup's technology and hire its engineers. Officials have explored whether Nvidia offered bigger allocations of AI chips to customers who also bought its networking equipment and Groq processors.
- Run:ai: Nvidia's acquisition of the maker of software that helps AI chips run more efficiently.
What it means for developers
So far there's no evidence that anything has changed on Hugging Face. The concern is about what could happen. A company that sells most of the AI chips and also runs a major model hub could, in theory, steer what developers find and how they deploy it. That could happen through default integrations, better-tuned paths for its own hardware, or uneven access to platform services.
The other side is real too. Nvidia's money could improve Hugging Face's infrastructure and services for everyone. Nvidia's commitments in its filing are specific enough to check. For developers, signs worth watching include changes to model access, pricing, API terms, support for non-Nvidia hardware, and how competing tools appear on the platform.
What happens next
The DOJ can keep gathering information without taking action, and Reuters noted that the probe may never produce a lawsuit. The deal's timetable for the first half of 2027 depends on regulatory clearance.
How we reported this
We checked Reuters' reporting against Nvidia's SEC filing and Jensen Huang's announcement of the deal. The DOJ's questions come from Reuters' anonymous sources and haven't been confirmed by the department. The section on developer risks is DailyMech's analysis, not a finding by any regulator.
Sources
- Reuters via U.S. News, "Exclusive: US DOJ Is Inquiring About Nvidia's Purchase of Hugging Face, Sources Say" (Oct. 28, 2026): https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2026-10-28/exclusive-us-doj-is-inquiring-about-nvidias-purchase-of-hugging-face-sources-say
- Nvidia, Form 8-K (Sept. 2, 2026): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1045810/000104581026000078/nvda-20260902.htm
- Nvidia, "NVIDIA to Acquire Hugging Face" (Sept. 3, 2026): https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/nvidia-to-acquire-hugging-face/
- Reuters, "Nvidia bets $13 billion on open AI models with Hugging Face deal" (Sept. 3, 2026): https://www.reuters.com/business/nvidia-buy-hugging-face-nearly-13-billion-big-bet-open-ai-models-2026-09-03/
DailyMech used AI tools to help research and draft this article; it was fact-checked by our editors.