The U.S. Department of Justice is asking whether Nvidia's planned Hugging Face acquisition could give it control of an important AI distribution point, Reuters reported, focusing scrutiny on a $12.93 billion deal.
Reuters cited two people familiar with the matter. CNBC separately confirmed the inquiry but did not report the specific questions Reuters described.
Reuters said the department's questions also cover Nvidia's investments, acquisitions and sales practices, as well as whether the company pressured customers. Officials are asking whether control of the platform could help Nvidia gain leverage over rivals or harm competing firms, and how Hugging Face's competitors might be affected, the outlet reported.
Reuters placed the inquiry within broader scrutiny of Nvidia that began under former President Joe Biden and continued under President Donald Trump. It also reported Justice Department scrutiny of Nvidia's SchedMD and Run:ai acquisitions and its 2025 licensing and hiring arrangement with Groq.
Nvidia signed the acquisition agreement Sept. 2 and announced a $12.9303 billion deal value on Sept. 3. Its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission lists about $11.9 billion for Hugging Face stockholders, subject to adjustments, plus up to about $1 billion in equity-based retention for employees who join Nvidia.
Hugging Face hosts an online community where developers and companies work with open-source AI models, datasets and applications, according to Nvidia's filing. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Sept. 3 that the community had more than 18 million people involved in development, research and creative work.
Nvidia says the service will continue to work with cloud providers and accelerator makers beyond its own. The company has also said its computing systems will not be required to use the platform, and that the deal would provide Hugging Face with additional resources.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on matters before the department, Reuters reported. Nvidia declined to comment to Reuters, and Hugging Face representatives did not respond. Nvidia's filing forecasts completion in the first half of 2027, contingent on regulatory approval and other closing conditions.
