Nvidia under scrutiny: Hugging Face deal and talks on debt guarantee for Nscale

Nvidia is facing both questions from antitrust authorities and a busy stretch in the data center industry. Two separate stories show how big a role the chip giant plays in the AI industry. On top of that, two earnings calls are coming up that investors are waiting for.

Questions about Hugging Face

The US Department of Justice has asked questions about how Nvidia's planned acquisition of Hugging Face will affect competition in AI, according to Reuters, as relayed by PYMNTS. The price is $12.93 billion. Hugging Face is a platform where many developers find and share AI models. According to the reporting, the department particularly wants to know whether the ownership would give Nvidia control over a central distribution point for AI.

Nvidia struck the deal in early September 2026, and it is expected to close in the first half of 2027. According to the reporting, the scrutiny of Nvidia also covers acquisitions, investments, sales practices and the question of whether Nvidia has pressured customers. It began under the Biden administration and has continued under Trump. The Department of Justice has not itself announced an investigation.

Nvidia declined to comment on Reuters' report. The company has previously said that Hugging Face will continue to work with multiple chip, cloud and AI providers.

Guarantee for Nscale and Anthropic data center

The Information reported on October 29 that Nvidia is in talks about a residual value guarantee covering billions of dollars in debt for data center company Nscale's facility in West Virginia. The details here come from The Next Web, which relays the report. The idea is that Nvidia would step in if Nscale cannot pay for the construction, and help find a buyer and a new tenant.

In August, Anthropic signed a compute capacity deal worth about $45 billion to lease the first building on Nscale's campus. That is more than 40% of Nscale's $103 billion backlog. A similar $45 billion deal is being negotiated.

The talks about the guarantee are not binding, nothing has been signed, and the terms may change. Anthropic can back out of the deal if financing is not in place by a deadline. Nscale has not yet secured financing for construction and equipment for the first building. The project has been met with environmental violations, local opposition and delays. Nscale is aiming for an IPO in December, postponed from November.

Earnings on the way

CoreWeave holds its earnings call for the third quarter of 2026 on Tuesday, November 10, at 5:00 p.m. US Eastern time. Nvidia reports results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2027 on Tuesday, November 17, with results at about 4:20 p.m. and a call at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time.