SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The US Department of Justice has made inquiries into how Nvidia’s $12.93 billion deal to acquire open-source platform Hugging Face could affect competition in artificial intelligence, as antitrust officials continue a longstanding investigation into the chipmaker’s business practices, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The department’s recent questions cover Nvidia’s acquisitions, investments, sales practices and whether the company has pressured its customers, the sources said. Regarding Hugging Face, officials have asked whether the deal would allow Nvidia to control a fundamental distribution channel for artificial intelligence.
Nvidia has said the acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2027. The company has also stated that Hugging Face would continue supporting a range of chipmakers, cloud providers and artificial intelligence companies.
The inquiries into the Hugging Face deal and details of the broader investigation into Nvidia’s conduct have not previously been reported. Nvidia has become a major force in the technology sector and the artificial intelligence boom, supporting companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI while driving global data centre development to meet growing computing demand.
Any action by the Justice Department could have significant implications for the chip industry and challenge Nvidia’s investment and acquisition strategy. However, government investigations do not establish wrongdoing and do not necessarily lead to lawsuits.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on matters before the department, citing longstanding policy. The spokesperson said the department under President Donald Trump would continue prioritising the advancement of superintelligence for the benefit of Americans.
Nvidia declined to comment, while Hugging Face representatives did not respond to a request for comment.
The broader investigation began under former President Joe Biden and has continued under the Trump administration. There is no indication that Trump has been involved in the probe, which may not result in any enforcement action.
The Justice Department has also examined Nvidia’s acquisition of SchedMD, one of the sources said. The December 2025 purchase raised concerns among artificial intelligence specialists about continued access to SchedMD’s open-source software, which helps operate supercomputers with national security applications. Nvidia has pledged to maintain open access and support for the software.
Nvidia holds the largest share of the artificial intelligence chip market, supplying processors used by systems such as ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude. Several startups and chip designers are challenging its dominance.
Broadcom and Google are developing processors designed for specific computing tasks and artificial intelligence applications, while Advanced Micro Devices has argued that its hardware can offer technical advantages and has secured multibillion-dollar agreements with artificial intelligence laboratories and cloud computing operators.
Nvidia’s market position has also strengthened Chief Executive Jensen Huang’s influence in the technology industry and his relationship with Trump, who has promoted American leadership in artificial intelligence. Huang has appeared alongside Trump on several occasions, including during the president’s diplomatic trip to China. Trump, who has disclosed owning Nvidia shares, separately awarded Huang the National Medal of Science for his contributions to artificial intelligence hardware.