The US Justice Department has launched an investigation into Nvidia’s planned $12.93 billion acquisition of Hugging Face. Officials are examining whether the purchase would grant the chipmaker control over a central hub for distributing artificial intelligence models and software. This scrutiny coincides with a broader probe into Nvidia’s sales practices, including its previous acquisitions of SchedMD and Run:ai, as well as its licensing agreement with Groq. Regulators are specifically checking if Nvidia offered customers additional AI chips when they purchased networking equipment or Groq processors. The investigation began under the Biden administration and has continued under Donald Trump, with Nvidia expecting the Hugging Face deal to close in the first half of 2027.
Nvidia also faces separate inquiries from European authorities regarding its market dominance. France’s competition authority is looking into the industry’s heavy reliance on Nvidia’s CUDA programming software and the company’s stakes in cloud providers like CoreWeave. Regulators are concerned about potential risks such as supply restrictions and unfair contract terms. These investigations focus on alleged anticompetitive behaviour rather than changes to customer products or API functionality.
* The Hugging Face deal is valued at $12.93 billion.
* The investigation spans multiple jurisdictions including the US and France.
* Concerns centre on bundling chips with networking gear and software dependency.
