US DOJ is inquiring about Nvidia’s purchase of Hugging Face

The US Department of Justice has made inquiries about how Nvidia’s $12.93 billion deal to buy open-source platform Hugging Face would affect competition in artificial intelligence, at the same time as antitrust enforcers pursue their years-long investigation into the chip designer’s conduct, two people familiar with the matter said.

The Justice Department’s recent questioning covers Nvidia’s acquisitions, investments, sales practices, and whether the chip designer has exerted pressure on its customers, the two people said. On Hugging Face, Justice Department officials have asked whether the deal would let Nvidia capture a fundamental distribution point for AI, the people said.