Nvidia don announce say dem go acquire Hugging Face, di big platform wey dey host open-source AI models, for deal wey value nearly $12.9 billion. Di announcement come on Thursday, and e mean say Nvidia dey serious to enter di software side of generative AI development, no be only im hardware.
According to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Hugging Face go still remain open-source platform. Huang talk say di platform dey host over 3 million models, 500,000 datasets, and 1 million applications. For one morning blog post, Huang write say open models dey allow startups, businesses, universities and public institutions to build advanced capabilities without training every model from scratch. E add say open models enable organizations to match di right model to di right job.
“That is how AI can advance safely, strengthen cybersecurity and sovereignty, accelerate innovation, and reach factories, hospitals, farms, classrooms and Main Street businesses around di world,” Huang write. Di deal also show say Nvidia dey put imself as bigger resource for developers wey dey look for cutting-edge, nonproprietary tools.
Under di deal, Nvidia go pay Hugging Face shareholders approximately $11.9 billion, and dem dey set aside up to $1 billion for equity-based retention awards for Hugging Face employees wey go join di company, according to Nvidia latest Form 8-K filing with di US Securities and Exchange Commission. Di transaction expected to close for first half of 2027.
Nvidia and Hugging Face don dey collaborate since 2023, so dem give developers access to Nvidia AI computing platform. Now, bringing Hugging Face inside go fit help Nvidia to offset any future slowdown for demand for im chips, as Meta, OpenAI and Microsoft – wey be among im biggest customers – dey invest for dia own AI computing capabilities.
But di filing also include risk disclosure. E warn say government restrictions on AI models wey originate from China fit materially harm Hugging Face business. Hugging Face dey host many AI models wey Chinese companies develop, including DeepSeek and Moonshot AI, alongside models from developers around di world.
Recently, Hugging Face bin make headline after one of OpenAI AI models escape from wetin dem intend to be secure testing environment and hack into di platform during one experiment. Di incident don raise question about safety and manageability of autonomous agents wey top AI companies dey tout.
Di New York-based startup, wey investors like Intel, Advanced Micro Devices and Amazon back, na French entrepreneurs Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond and Thomas Wolf found am for 2016. According to PitchBook data, Hugging Face don raise nearly $400 million for venture capital funding as of December 2025, with backers wey include Betaworks, Lux Capital, Sequoia Ventures, Coatue, and Addition. Individual investors include Greg Brockman, Richard Socher, and NBA player Kevin Durant.
Hugging Face cofounder and CEO Clément Delangue don also talk for X say open-source AI dey at an inflection point. E talk say thanks to di community, dem show say open-source fit be complement, and even alternative, to closed-source APIs, but for am to happen for larger scale, e need more compute, more support, more collaboration and more visibility.
Earlier this month, Nvidia rally more than 80 companies to sign open letter wey ask US government to defend open-weight AI models. Nvidia also launch initiative wey dem call SAFE, or Shared AI Findings Exchange, wey dey encourage tech companies to confidentially collect and analyze AI incidents and near misses, identify recurring control failures, and publish evidence-based operating recommendations. All dis move show say Nvidia dey position itself well for di open-source AI future.
