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The inquiry concerns a platform serving both open-model developers and companies building proprietary AI, including chip companies.
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The DOJ has sought information from Nvidia about its announced $12.9 billion acquisition of Hugging Face, examining how the transaction could affect competitors. CNBC confirmed the inquiry on October 28, 2026; Nvidia declined to comment. Hugging Face’s business spans model hosting and enterprise infrastructure and collaboration tools, including services for customers working with proprietary AI and chip companies. The request puts the deal under regulatory scrutiny, but the article reports no decision to block it.
Nvidia said at the September announcement that Hugging Face had more than 18 million users and over 200,000 company users.
The company also cited at least 3 million models and 500,000 datasets shared on the platform.
CNBC identified GitHub as the closest comparable business; Microsoft bought it for $7.5 billion in 2018.
Nvidia is facing a U.S. Justice Department investigation into how its announced $12.9 billion acquisition of Hugging Face could affect competitors. The agency has asked the company for information about the deal, bringing scrutiny to its purchase of a platform that hosts AI models and serves organizations across the technology industry.
CNBC confirmed the probe with a person familiar with it on October 28, 2026. Reuters first reported the inquiry that day, according to CNBC. Nvidia declined to comment to CNBC on the investigation.
Nvidia announced the acquisition in September, a month before the inquiry became public. At the announcement, CEO Jensen Huang described the purchase as a way to help:
expand access to AI for developers and institutions worldwide.
Jensen Huang, Nvidia CEO, writing about the acquisition in September
Hugging Face runs an open-source platform for hosting and testing AI models. Its commercial business extends beyond that public service: it sells infrastructure and collaboration tools to organizations working with closed, proprietary AI—systems that are not shared openly. Those customers include chip companies.
CNBC identified GitHub as the closest comparable business to Hugging Face. Microsoft acquired that software repository in 2018 for $7.5 billion, compared with the $12.9 billion price of Nvidia’s announced purchase.
Nvidia’s September announcement described a substantial existing network. The company said more than 18 million people and more than 200,000 companies used Hugging Face. The figures describe adoption across individuals and organizations, rather than a disclosed count of paying customers.
The company also cited at least 3 million models and 500,000 datasets shared through the platform. Those company-supplied figures date to the acquisition announcement; they are not updated totals released alongside the October investigation.
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