US DOJ questions Nvidia’s $12.93B acquisition of Hugging Face

The scrutiny here is less about the price tag than about distribution: Hugging Face is a primary channel through which open-source AI models reach developers, so a chipmaker owning it raises vertical-control questions that go beyond a standard merger review. The fact that this sits inside a broader multi-year conduct probe — spanning SchedMD, Run:ai and the Groq licensing deal — signals regulators are mapping a pattern of acquisitions rather than assessing one deal in isolation. With closing not expected until the first half of 2027, the open question is whether the inquiry stays a review or escalates into a formal challenge that reshapes how Nvidia can expand through acquisition.