US Justice Department questions Nvidia's $13 billion Hugging Face deal over AI competition
The probe adds to earlier federal scrutiny of Nvidia's acquisitions, and the deal is not expected to close until the first half of 2027.
The US Department of Justice has reportedly questioned whether Nvidia's roughly $13 billion purchase of Hugging Face could reshape competition in AI, according to Reuters as cited by Tom's Hardware. The inquiries focus on how the deal might alter the position of Nvidia's rivals, since Hugging Face hosts and tests open-source AI models. Nvidia declined to comment. The probe comes on top of earlier federal scrutiny, including a review of its SchedMD acquisition and questions about whether it tied chip allocations to networking and Groq purchases. Hugging Face is expected to join Nvidia in the first half of 2027.
Why it matters
The inquiries center on whether Nvidia's ownership of Hugging Face, a hub where open-source AI models are hosted and tested, could weaken rivals' position in AI. The deal has been agreed but not completed, and Nvidia has declined to comment, so the outcome is open. The review also follows earlier federal attention to Nvidia's SchedMD and Groq purchases, suggesting regulators are examining a pattern of acquisitions rather than a single deal.
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