Acquisition: Nvidia acquires Hugging Face
Hugging Face an open-source AI platform that enables developers to publish and share AI models, datasets and applications, is reportedly set to be acquired by Nvidia for $12.9 billion. The report is based on a source close to the matter; neither Nvidia nor Hugging Face has officially confirmed the agreement.
Earlier reports indicated Hugging Face had been exploring a sale that could value the company at $13 billion or more and was working with a bank to evaluate offers. Microsoft was also reported to have engaged with the company at one point, though those contacts were said not to be ongoing. If the reported deal is confirmed, how Hugging Face’s open platform and its support for multiple hardware providers will be preserved — including continued support for competitors of Nvidia such as AMD and Intel — is expected to be a central strategic consideration.
Hugging Face was founded in 2016 by Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond and Thomas Wolf. The platform lets developers publish and share AI models, datasets and applications; according to figures shared by the company, the platform hosts roughly 3 million public models, 1 million datasets and 1.4 million Spaces.
Nvidia is among Hugging Face’s existing investors: the company participated in a $235 million funding round in 2023 that included Google, Amazon, AMD, Intel, IBM and Salesforce, which set Hugging Face’s valuation at $4.5 billion. The company reportedly declined a $500 million investment offer from Nvidia last year that would have valued it at about $7 billion. Hugging Face’s annualized revenue is reported to be around $150 million, a figure that makes the alleged $12.9 billion purchase price equivalent to roughly an 86x multiple of current annualized revenue.
No details about integration plans, governance or post‑deal strategy have been disclosed; the parties have not confirmed the report publicly.
