The US Department of Justice has started asking questions about Nvidia’s $12.93 billion purchase of Hugging Face. According to Reuters, the agency has “made inquiries” about the deal and how it could affect competition in the AI industry.
The inquiry is not a formal investigation yet. It is an early look at a transaction that would put the most popular open-source AI platform under the world’s biggest AI chipmaker. That combination has antitrust lawyers paying attention.
What Nvidia agreed to buy
Nvidia announced the Hugging Face deal on September 3, 2026. Hugging Face is a platform founded in 2016 where AI developers share models, datasets, and tools. People often call it the “GitHub of AI” because its library is browsable, community-driven, and free to use. The Verge reported the full terms of the agreement.
Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s CEO, promised the platform would stay open. “Hugging Face will remain an open platform for the entire AI ecosystem,” he said in the announcement. He also said Nvidia hardware would not be required to build or deploy models through Hugging Face.
Why regulators are watching
Those promises may not settle the competition question. The deal gives Nvidia a strategic foothold in open-source AI. Closed providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google are now building their own chips. Control of the main distribution hub for open models could matter a lot in that fight. Our earlier report on Anthropic’s IPO filing shows how quickly these companies are moving toward public markets and vertical integration.
The price also stands out. Hugging Face was last valued at $4.5 billion in 2023. The Information reports that the company generates about $150 million in annualized revenue. Nvidia is paying roughly 86 times sales for a business that does not make much money.
Hugging Face reportedly turned down a $500 million Nvidia investment last year. That offer would have valued the startup at $7 billion. Reports at the time said the company worried about having one dominant investor.
This is not Nvidia’s only regulatory problem. The chipmaker is also facing a separate DOJ investigation over its dominance in AI chips. Adding a platform-level acquisition to that file gives regulators another angle, similar to the pressure that followed the FCC’s first gadget ban over foreign surveillance chips.
What comes next
What happens next depends on how far the inquiry goes. A formal second request would extend the timeline by months. Even an informal inquiry can slow a deal, because companies must gather documents and answer questions.
For developers, the practical stakes are simple. Hugging Face is where many small teams find the models they build on. If Nvidia tightens its grip on that hub, the open ecosystem could become less neutral.
Nvidia has not commented publicly on the DOJ inquiries. Hugging Face has also stayed quiet. Neither company has said whether the deal timeline has changed.
The Verge reported the inquiry on October 28, citing Reuters. For now, the deal is signed but not closed. Regulators in Washington are deciding how closely they want to look.
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