Nvidia to acquire Hugging Face for $12.93B in open AI model bet

Key facts

• Nvidia is acquiring Hugging Face for $12.93 billion.
• The acquisition aims to bolster Nvidia's support for open AI models and expand its AI software reach.
• Hugging Face will continue to operate as an open platform for the AI ecosystem.
• Hugging Face hosts over 3 million models, 1 million applications, and 500,000 datasets.
• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang assured that Nvidia compute will not be required to build on or deploy through Hugging Face.

Nvidia has agreed to acquire the open-source AI platform Hugging Face for nearly $13 billion, a move aimed at expanding its AI software reach and bolstering support for open-weight AI models. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced the deal, valued at $12,930,300,000, stating that Hugging Face will remain an open platform for the entire AI ecosystem.

Hugging Face hosts over 18 million developers who share more than 3 million models, 500,000 datasets, and 1 million applications. Huang assured that Nvidia compute will not be required to build on or deploy through Hugging Face, emphasizing the platform's continued support for open-source models and multi-cloud development.

This acquisition comes as Nvidia continues to expand its AI infrastructure and advocates for open-weight models to maintain U.S. AI leadership. Hugging Face reportedly rejected a $500 million deal from Nvidia last year and is currently generating $150 million in annualized revenue.