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Report: US DOJ inquires about Nvidia's $12.93 billion acquisition of Hugging Face
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- DeepHorus
Reuters reported on Oct. 29 that the U.S. Department of Justice has opened inquiries into Nvidia's $12.93 billion (about 86.386 billion yuan) acquisition of the open-source platform Hugging Face, focusing on how the deal would affect competition in the AI sector. Two people familiar with the matter said antitrust enforcement staff are simultaneously continuing a years-long investigation into the chip designer's conduct. The Justice Department has not publicly commented on the matter.
Nvidia previously announced that the acquisition is expected to be completed in the first half of 2027. The company stressed that Hugging Face will remain open and will be compatible with and support ecosystem cooperation across various chips, cloud services and AI providers. Hugging Face is a globally known hosting platform for open-source AI models and datasets and is regarded as an important gateway to the AI developer ecosystem.
People familiar with the matter said the Justice Department's recent inquiries involve Nvidia's mergers and acquisitions, outbound investments, sales model, and whether the company has exerted pressure on its customers. Regarding the Hugging Face transaction, Justice Department officials focused on whether the acquisition would allow Nvidia to control a core distribution hub in the AI field. The inquiries also involve Nvidia's acquisition of SchedMD.
In December 2025, Nvidia acquired SchedMD, raising concerns among AI experts. Experts worried that access to SchedMD's open-source software could be affected; the software is used to run supercomputers related to national security. Nvidia has promised to continue maintaining open access and support.
The report noted that any action by the U.S. Justice Department could ripple across the entire chip industry and challenge Nvidia's investment and acquisition strategy aimed at expanding its influence in AI. However, the government's opening of an investigation does not itself mean that wrongdoing exists, nor does it necessarily lead to formal litigation. The relevant inquiries are still at the information-gathering stage.
A U.S. Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on any matter currently before the department, citing long-standing policy. Nvidia declined to comment, and representatives of Hugging Face did not respond to requests for comment. None of the three organizations provided further explanation on the progress of the investigation.
At present, the Justice Department has not announced formal action. If regulators impose more restrictions on Nvidia's merger, acquisition and investment strategy, it could affect its path of integrating the AI ecosystem through acquisitions. Meanwhile, the approval and integration pace of the Hugging Face transaction remains uncertain.
