Nvidia Officially Acquires Hugging Face for $12.93 Billion
On September 3, NVIDIA announced on its official blog that it had reached a definitive agreement to acquire Hugging Face, the open-source AI model hosting platform, for approximately $12.93 billion (precisely $12,930,300,000), with Jensen Huang personally making the announcement. It's a direct acquisition of core open-source AI ecosystem infrastructure by the compute giant.
Confirmed
- Jensen Huang announced the deal on NVIDIA's official blog, pledging to jointly expand the Hugging Face platform, strengthen infrastructure, and broaden AI usage among developers and institutions worldwide (m7, m11)
- Hugging Face co-founder Thom Wolf confirmed the deal, noting an easter egg hidden in the price figure as a nod to HF and Nvidia, and reflected on the company's founding in 2016 (m6)
- CEO Clément Delangue revealed on CNBC that he personally reached out to Jensen Huang this summer to kick off the deal (m4)
- According to Bloomberg, the price is roughly 2.9x Hugging Face's $4.5 billion valuation from its 2023 funding round, with around $1 billion in additional employee retention bonuses negotiated (m20; The Verge also reported the near-three-times premium, m8)
- Hugging Face currently serves over 18 million developers/researchers and hosts more than 3 million models (m7, m13, m15)
- Both parties committed to genuinely open-source AI, with the platform remaining open and platform-agnostic (m11)
- Early investors (the Series A lead) and Betaworks investor Borthwick both posted congratulations, viewing it as a major endorsement of the open-source ecosystem (m17, m18)
Not Yet Confirmed
- Deal details like the employee retention bonus package remain based on media reports and are subject to regulatory and closing processes
Why It Matters
- Hugging Face is often called "the GitHub of AI" and is the central hub for distributing open-source models and datasets; the acquisition will reshape the distribution and infrastructure landscape for open-source models, affecting virtually every developer who relies on the platform (m8, m19)
- Community reactions are split: one camp believes it benefits the continued development of open-source/open-weight models; the other worries the "Switzerland of AI" is being absorbed by a chip giant (m2, m4)
- Analysts argue incentives are highly aligned: NVIDIA doesn't need any single model to win—it profits from massive numbers of developers training, fine-tuning, and running countless models—so this may be one of the best possible outcomes for open-source AI (m12)
- The deal is also read as a landmark bet on the US open-source AI ecosystem against closed alternatives (m17)
2026-09-03 ~ 2026-09-03 · 54 related posts
- Episode 1: NVIDIA Reportedly Agrees to Buy Hugging Face for ~$12.9B(2026-08-27, 60 posts)
- Episode 2: NVIDIA Partners with Hugging Face on Nemotron Open Models(2026-08-27, 3 posts)
- Episode 3: Nvidia Reportedly Eyes $13 Billion Hugging Face Acquisition(2026-08-28, 3 posts)
- Episode 4: NVIDIA Reportedly Agrees to Acquire Hugging Face for $12.9B(2026-08-30, 8 posts)
- Episode 5: Nvidia Reportedly Agrees to Buy Hugging Face for Around $12.9 Billion(2026-08-31, 7 posts)
- Episode 6: Nvidia Officially Acquires Hugging Face for $12.93 Billion(2026-09-03, 54 posts)
- Episode 7: Data Shows Open-Weight Models Are Widely Deployed in Production(2026-09-03, 2 posts)
Primary sources
- Nvidia's $12.9B Hugging Face Deal: Why 1+1 Will Likely Equal 1.2 — DavidLinthicum · 2026-09-03
- [source] Nvidia nearing $12.9B Hugging Face acquisition — 86x its ~$150M revenue run rate — rohanpaul_ai · 2026-09-03
- Reported $14B NVIDIA bid for Hugging Face prices it at 93x its $150M ARR — thedealdirector · 2026-09-03
- Nvidia reportedly nearing $14B Hugging Face acquisition; Kevin Durant's $250K bet up ~260x — 创业邦 · 2026-09-03
- NVIDIA to Acquire Hugging Face for $12.93B, Pledging Platform Stays Open — vanstriendaniel · 2026-09-03
- Nvidia to acquire Hugging Face for about $12.93 billion — xiaohu · 2026-09-03
- [source] Hugging Face co-founder confirms Nvidia acquisition with $12.93B easter egg — Thom_Wolf · 2026-09-03
- Why NVIDIA-Hugging Face deal may be the best outcome for open-source AI — Thom_Wolf · 2026-09-03
- Hugging Face cofounder reflects on 2016 origins as NVIDIA deal lands — deliprao · 2026-09-03
- Nvidia acquires Hugging Face to fuel a scaled American open-source AI ecosystem — Borthwick · 2026-09-03
- Nvidia to acquire Hugging Face for $12.9 billion — SarcasticBaka · 2026-09-03
- Hugging Face confirms major NVIDIA deal, early investor congratulates the team — graceisford · 2026-09-03
- Nvidia reportedly acquiring Hugging Face for $12.93B, unverified — Polymarket · 2026-09-03
- Nathan Lambert's Call for NVIDIA to Buy Hugging Face Aged Perfectly — menhguin · 2026-09-03
- Hugging Face Co-founder Thom Wolf Reflects on the Journey to NVIDIA's $12.93B Deal — helloiamleonie · 2026-09-03
- Betaworks partner on Hugging Face's Nvidia deal: the best possible outcome for open American AI — Borthwick · 2026-09-03
- Nvidia to buy Hugging Face in $12.9bn deal, betting on open AI models — nordicinst · 2026-09-03
- Podcast claims NVIDIA buying Hugging Face for $12.9B, traces its open-source rise — TheTuringPost · 2026-09-03
- NVIDIA's $12.9B Buy at 86x Revenue: It Bought the Model Discovery Default — sanjaykalra · 2026-09-03
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