Nvidia Agrees to Hugging Face Acquisition at $12.9 Billion
The reported deal would give Nvidia control of a major open-source AI model hub as the chipmaker expands deeper into AI software.
Nvidia has agreed to the $12.9 billion Nvidia Hugging Face acquisition, according to The Information, which cited a person with knowledge of the agreement. Neither Nvidia nor Hugging Face had publicly confirmed the deal when Reuters reported on August 27.
The transaction would give Nvidia control of Hugging Face, a platform that developers use to share open-source AI models, datasets, and related tools. The Information described the company as a GitHub-like repository for AI models and said Nvidia views successful open models as a way to support continued demand for its hardware.
Why Nvidia Wants Hugging Face
Nvidia has spent heavily across the AI stack rather than limiting its strategy to GPUs. The Information reported that the company has invested in AI application developers, data-center companies, and open-model efforts, including its own Nemotron family.
That strategy makes Hugging Face a particularly valuable target because the platform sits close to the developers who choose which models to deploy and which hardware to run them on. NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Embed Hits #1 on RTEB shows Nvidia already pushing open models and retrieval tools as part of that broader software strategy.
Hugging Face also helps model developers optimize software for different server hardware and offers cloud services for AI applications. Its position across competing hardware platforms could make Nvidia's ownership more consequential for developers that use AMD, Intel, or other accelerators.
The Deal Would Mark a Major Valuation Jump
The reported $12.9 billion price would represent a sharp increase from Hugging Face's previous private-market valuation. Nvidia joined Salesforce and other investors in a $235 million Hugging Face funding round in 2023 that valued the company at $4.5 billion.
Hugging Face later rejected a reported $500 million Nvidia investment that would have valued the company at $7 billion, according to the Financial Times. The new reported price would put the acquisition far above that earlier proposal.
Hugging Face also recently faced a major security incident involving autonomous AI agents. Hugging Face Hacked by an Autonomous AI Agent covers that incident and its implications for a platform that sits at the center of the open-model ecosystem.
What Happens Next
The Information reported an agreement, but Nvidia and Hugging Face still need to confirm the transaction publicly. The final terms, closing timeline, and any commitments around support for competing AI hardware remain unclear.
For developers, that uncertainty matters more than the headline price. Nvidia owning the hub where competing models and hardware meet would give the chipmaker a new position in the software layer that influences future AI infrastructure choices.