US regulators examine Nvidia's $12.93 billion Hugging Face purchase

The US Justice Department is looking into Nvidia's planned $12.93 billion purchase of Hugging Face, according to two sources cited by Reuters. Officials want to know whether the deal would give the chip maker control over a key hub for distributing AI and hurt its competitors.

Hugging Face is an open-source platform. Nvidia expects the deal to close in the first half of 2027. The company says Hugging Face will keep supporting partnerships with a range of chip, cloud, and AI providers.

The wider probe

The review sits inside a broader investigation of Nvidia's acquisitions, investments, sales practices, and possible pressure on customers. It began 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
• Its licensing deal with Groq
• Whether customers were offered more AI chips if they also bought Nvidia networking gear and Groq processors

Europe is watching too. France's competition authority is investigating Nvidia over alleged anticompetitive practices. It is concerned about the industry's dependence on Nvidia's CUDA programming software and about Nvidia's stakes in cloud providers like CoreWeave. It named possible risks including supply restrictions, unfair contract terms, and discrimination against certain customers.

What is not known yet

The reports do not say whether the Justice Department will challenge the deal or whether any of the probes will end in action. The concern is simple. If one chip maker controls key AI tools and supply, businesses that rely on AI could face fewer choices and higher prices.