DOJ Inquiry into Nvidia’s $12.93 Billion Hugging Face Acquisition

On October 28, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) began questioning how Nvidia Corp.’s planned $12.93 billion purchase of the open-source AI platform Hugging Face could affect competition in the artificial-intelligence market. The inquiry is part of a broader, multi-year antitrust investigation into Nvidia’s conduct.

ReutersDOJ Probes Whether Nvidia's $12.93 Billion Hugging Face Deal Would Cement AI Chokehold — BigGo Finance NVDA Stock Edges Down On DOJ Interest In $12.9 Billion Hugging Face Acquisition

Nvidia’s acquisition of Hugging Face follows a series of high-profile purchases that have drawn regulatory attention. In late 2025 the company bought Groq assets for $20 billion, a deal also under DOJ scrutiny. Earlier that year Nvidia licensed technology from the chip startup Groq and hired its engineers, and it acquired Run:ai, a software firm that improves AI-chip efficiency. The DOJ’s antitrust probe began under former President Joe Biden and has continued under President Donald Trump, examining whether Nvidia uses its dominant AI-chip market share to pressure customers or stifle competition.

ReutersDOJ Probes Whether Nvidia's $12.93 Billion Hugging Face Deal Would Cement AI Chokehold — BigGo Finance NVDA Stock Edges Down On DOJ Interest In $12.9 Billion Hugging Face Acquisition

Hugging Face operates a widely used platform that hosts millions of open-source AI models, datasets, and applications. At the time of the announcement, Nvidia cited more than 18 million users and over 200,000 companies sharing at least 3 million models and 500,000 datasets on the platform. The acquisition is Nvidia’s second-largest purchase after the Groq deal and is slated to close in the first half of 2027. Nvidia has pledged that Hugging Face will remain open to models, frameworks, clouds, and computing platforms from across the industry, and that its own chips will not be required to use the service.

NVDA Stock Edges Down On DOJ Interest In $12.9 Billion Hugging Face Acquisition

• Nvidia declined to comment on the DOJ’s questions.

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• Hugging Face representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

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DOJ officials are probing several competitive dimensions:

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• Whether ownership of Hugging Face would give Nvidia control over a key AI-model distribution hub.

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• If the combined entity could disadvantage rivals such as Broadcom, Alphabet’s Google (which designs its own AI processors), and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), all of which are developing alternative chips and software ecosystems.

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• Whether Nvidia might use the platform to negotiate favorable terms with customers or to pressure them into purchasing Nvidia hardware, echoing earlier inquiries into the company’s 2025 acquisitions of SchedMD (an open-source supercomputing software maker) and its licensing deal with Groq.

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Following reports of the DOJ’s interest, Nvidia’s shares slipped about 1 % on the day of the announcement, according to TradingView data.

NVDA Stock Edges Down On DOJ Interest In $12.9 Billion Hugging Face Acquisition

• “This DOJ under President Trump’s leadership will continue to prioritize advancement ofSuper Intelligencefor the betterment of the American people.” — The spokesperson

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The Hugging Face transaction remains pending, with closure expected in the first half of 2027 pending regulatory clearance. The DOJ’s line of questioning continues, but no indication has been given that the investigation will result in formal action. Both Nvidia and Hugging Face have reiterated that the platform will stay open to a broad range of AI providers.

NVDA Stock Edges Down On DOJ Interest In $12.9 Billion Hugging Face Acquisition