The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has questioned how Nvidia's Hugging Face purchase, worth US$12.93 billion would affect competition in artificial intelligence, according to a Reuters report published on 28 October 2026 and based on two people familiar with the matter. This is a report, not an official confirmation: the DOJ and Nvidia declined to comment to Reuters, according to the agency.
What is under scrutiny
According to the sources, the questions include whether the deal would let Nvidia capture a fundamental distribution point for AI. The Hugging Face inquiry would add to a broader investigation into Nvidia's conduct, begun under the Biden administration and continued under the Trump administration, covering acquisitions, investments, sales practices and possible pressure on customers.
The context of the deal
Nvidia announced on 3 September 2026 that it had agreed to buy Hugging Face for US$12.93 billion, with about US$11.9 billion for shareholders and up to about US$1 billion in employee retention, with closing expected in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals. At the time, the company said Hugging Face would remain an open platform, without requiring Nvidia compute, and cited more than 18 million users, more than 3 million models, 500,000 datasets and more than 200,000 companies using it.
Why caution matters
Caution is warranted: an inquiry or investigation is not evidence of wrongdoing and may not result in a lawsuit. CNBC, cited by PYMNTS, confirmed the inquiry with a source, and Bloomberg had previously reported scrutiny of Nvidia's licensing agreement with Groq, worth about US$20 billion.
Update: this article updates the previous Geekiki coverage of the deal announcement: Nvidia confirma compra da Hugging Face.
Image credit: official Hugging Face logo, from the company brand kit (huggingface.co).
Sources: Reuters via SRN News; PYMNTS.
Transparency: this article was produced with AI assistance, cross-checked against public posts and internet sources. Check the original sources to confirm the details before sharing.
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