Nvidia closes in on Hugging Face for $12.9 billion
Nvidia closes Hugging Face acquisition talks after reportedly agreeing to a $12.9 billion buy that would give the chip giant control of a leading open-source AI hub. The Information cited a source familiar with the matter; Business Insider said talks valuing Hugging Face above $13 billion have not produced a signed agreement and could still collapse. Neither company has commented.
If completed, the buyout would place one of the most popular developer hubs for sharing and downloading open-source AI models under Nvidia’s ownership, at a moment when closed labs are racing to cut reliance on its GPUs. For more coverage across this beat, see our Future Tech & AI Wonders hub.
Key Takeaways
- The Information reported Nvidia agreed to buy Hugging Face for $12.9 billion; Business Insider said no signed deal exists yet.
- A takeover would give Nvidia a major foothold in open-source AI as rivals build their own chips.
- Hugging Face was valued at $4.5 billion in a 2023 round and recently generated about $150 million in annual revenue.
- Ownership could also help Nvidia re-enter cloud compute and resell unused capacity tied to customer deals.
Why does Nvidia want Hugging Face?
Hugging Face, founded in 2016, is a central marketplace where developers share open-source models. Buying it would put Nvidia deeper into that ecosystem just as open-source builders push to match closed systems from firms such as Anthropic and OpenAI.
The strategic logic is hardware defense. OpenAI, Google, Amazon, and Anthropic are all building their own AI chips to reduce Nvidia dependence. A stronger open-source model market gives customers alternatives to those closed labs—and keeps more workloads on Nvidia silicon. The company has already invested tens of billions of dollars in its own open-source AI models.
That chip story is still expanding elsewhere. Amazon this week said it would add another 2 million Nvidia GPUs to AWS data centers in 2027 and 2028 after demand outpaced an earlier order of more than 1 million chips, per TechCrunch.
Is a signed Nvidia–Hugging Face deal locked in?
Not yet, according to conflicting report details. The Information said Nvidia has agreed to the purchase. Business Insider, which earlier flagged takeover interest, reported Wednesday that talks—putting the company above $13 billion—had not produced a signed agreement and could still fall apart.
TechCrunch said it contacted both Nvidia and Hugging Face; neither had responded. Nvidia’s silence stood out because it has often moved quickly to dispute reports it considers wrong.
CEO Clem Delangue has spent much of this year publicly aligned with Nvidia’s open-source push, including citing a letter signed by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and 24 other companies—including Hugging Face—urging U.S. support for open models rather than restrictions.
How does the price compare with Hugging Face’s past valuation?
The reported figure is a sharp jump from Hugging Face’s last known valuation of $4.5 billion after raising $235 million in 2023, a round that included Salesforce Ventures, Alphabet’s GV, IBM Ventures, and Nvidia itself.
Late last year, Hugging Face turned down a $500 million Nvidia investment that would have valued it at $7 billion, the Financial Times previously reported, saying it did not want a dominant investor that could sway decisions. A full buyout is a different proposition from taking on one giant backer.
The Information said Hugging Face was recently generating about $150 million a year in revenue, up from roughly $100 million two months earlier. Delangue told TechCrunch last month the company was “close to profitability.” Owning the hub could also help Nvidia return to cloud after scaling back DGX Cloud, by using Hugging Face’s rented-compute offerings—and by selling unused capacity from the tens of billions in cloud deals Nvidia has promised to help cover for customers.
According to TechCrunch’s report, a near-$13 billion price would be a massive multiple for a business this size—and hard to refuse.