US antitrust regulators are scrutinizing Nvidia's Hugging Face deal and sales practices
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US antitrust regulators are investigating Nvidia's planned $12.93 billion acquisition of the open-source platform Hugging Face, questioning whether the deal would grant Nvidia undue control over a critical AI distribution hub. The Justice Department is also examining Nvidia’s broader sales practices, including potential pressure on customers and bundling strategies involving networking gear and Groq processors. This probe, which began under President Joe Biden, has continued under President Donald Trump and includes reviews of previous acquisitions such as SchedMD and Run:ai. Simultaneously, European authorities in France are scrutinizing Nvidia for alleged anticompetitive behavior, particularly concerning its CUDA software dominance and stakes in cloud providers like CoreWeave. French regulators are concerned about risks such as supply restrictions, unfair contract terms, and customer discrimination. Nvidia anticipates closing the Hugging Face deal in the first half of 2027 while maintaining partnerships with various chip and cloud providers. These investigations highlight growing global regulatory attention on Nvidia's market power in the artificial intelligence sector.
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