Nvidia's $12.9B Hugging Face Deal: Why 1+1 Will Likely Equal 1.2

DavidLinthicum · x · 2026-09-03

Commenting on reports that Nvidia is acquiring Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, David Linthicum argues the deal looks synergistic on paper—Nvidia leads AI compute, Hugging Face dominates open-source model hosting—but predicts the end state is 1+1=1.2, not 3. Drawing on history of hardware companies acquiring SaaS firms, he cites mismatched cultural DNA, go-to-market, customer relationships, and value creation mechanisms.

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