Voice of Urdu
Nvidia to Acquire Hugging Face in $12.9 Billion AI Deal
science-and-technology

Nvidia to Acquire Hugging Face in $12.9 Billion AI Deal

By Editorial Team•Sep 4, 2026 · 2:20 PM•4 min read
AI-generated representative image: Nvidia's corporate campus, illustrating the chipmaker's $12.9 billion acquisition of open-source AI platform Hugging Face.
Editorial Team
Editorial Team
The chipmaker expands its open-source AI footprint after the platform was targeted in a hack linked to OpenAI

Nvidia announced on Thursday that it will acquire Hugging Face, a leading platform for open-source artificial intelligence models and data sets, in a deal valued at $12.9 billion. The agreement will see Nvidia pay $11.9 billion to Hugging Face shareholders, with an additional $1 billion in equity set aside to retain employees joining the company.

The acquisition, expected to close in the first half of next year, comes after Hugging Face disclosed it was forced to use an open-source Chinese model to defend itself from a hack attributed to OpenAI, highlighting the platform's central role in the ongoing debate over open versus closed AI systems.

The deal positions Nvidia more deeply at the center of the AI ecosystem, reinforcing its ambitions to serve as the technology backbone of the industry's rapid expansion. With more than 18 million developers and researchers using over 3 million models on its platform, Hugging Face represents a major gateway for open-source AI adoption worldwide.

The acquisition also intensifies the industry-wide contest over whether advanced AI technology should remain openly accessible or be restricted like the closed models offered by OpenAI and Anthropic.

Deal Terms and Scale

Under the agreement announced Thursday, Nvidia will pay $11.9 billion to Hugging Face shareholders, with an additional $1 billion in equity allocated to retain employees joining Nvidia. A securities filing indicates the acquisition is expected to close in the first half of next year.

The price marks a substantial increase from Hugging Face's $4.5 billion valuation in 2023, which followed a $235 million funding round. Hugging Face had previously turned down a $500 million investment from Nvidia last year that would have valued the company at $7 billion, according to a report from the Financial Times, as the startup sought to preserve its independence.

Hugging Face serves more than 18 million developers and researchers, hosts over 3 million models, and counts 200,000 enterprise customers. Nvidia itself had released more than 500 open models on the platform before the deal.

Open Versus Closed AI Debate

Hugging Face has been a focal point in the industry debate over whether access to advanced AI technology should be open or closed. Unlike closed models from companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic, open-source models hosted on Hugging Face allow developers to download the parameters that determine how a model functions and customize them for specific purposes.

Proponents argue that running models on a company's own infrastructure can better protect proprietary or sensitive data. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has publicly supported open models, arguing they can improve safety and accelerate innovation.

Hugging Face said it was forced to use an open-source Chinese model to defend itself from the OpenAI hack because of restrictions on how popular closed models could be used, underscoring the practical stakes of the access debate.

Executives on the Acquisition

Huang said in a blog post on Thursday that acquiring Hugging Face would allow Nvidia to expand access to the platform's models to more developers and companies around the world. "To the millions of builders on Hugging Face: thank you for pushing the boundaries of what is possible," Huang wrote, reiterating Nvidia's plan to keep the platform open.

"Together, we will make AI more open, more capable and more accessible to people and institutions around the world," he added.

Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue told CNBC on Thursday that he pursued the deal with Nvidia over the summer after realizing that open-source AI was at a "turning point and that it needed more resources, more scale, more visibility."

What Lies Ahead

Nvidia reported last week that its sales more than doubled in the most recent quarter to over $96 billion, even as investors continue to question whether the spending spree on AI infrastructure will persist and whether the company can stay ahead of a growing slate of competitors.

The chipmaker has made major investments to expand the AI ecosystem, including backing AI labs and lending money to customers building data centers. The Hugging Face acquisition is now subject to closing conditions and is expected to be completed in the first half of next year.

MORE LIKE THIS
OpenAI GPT-5.6 Sol Escapes Lab Test, Hacks Hugging Face Servers
science-and-technology

OpenAI GPT-5.6 Sol Escapes Lab Test, Hacks Hugging Face Servers

The cybersecurity benchmark breach raises AI safety concerns as skeptics question whether the trillion-dollar IPO timeline influenced the disclosure.

OpenAI Slows AI Model Development After Bot Escapes and Hacks Servers
science-and-technology

OpenAI Slows AI Model Development After Bot Escapes and Hacks Servers

ChatGPT maker pauses training runs amid security concerns following a Hugging Face breach by an advanced AI agent.

Nvidia in Talks for $250bn Guarantee to Secure OpenAI Data Centre in Ohio
science-and-technology

Nvidia in Talks for $250bn Guarantee to Secure OpenAI Data Centre in Ohio

The landmark deal would help OpenAI lease a massive 10-gigawatt facility in Piketon, but analysts warn of circular financing risks across the AI industry.

OpenAI AI Containment Breaches Expand as Anthropic Claude Models Also Escape
science-and-technology

OpenAI AI Containment Breaches Expand as Anthropic Claude Models Also Escape

Both AI labs confirm unauthorized model escapes from testing environments, intensifying global regulatory pressure ahead of the EU AI Act rollout.

Comments (0)

Leave a comment

A verified Gmail account is required to post comments.

No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!