Nvidia Agrees to Buy Hugging Face for $12.9 Billion, Reports Say

Semiconductor company Nvidia has reached an agreement to acquire open-source artificial intelligence hub Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, according to a report by media outlet The Information that cited an individual familiar with the matter. Neither Nvidia nor Hugging Face responded immediately to requests for comment regarding the potential purchase.

Negotiations between the two organizations reportedly initiated after Hugging Face attracted acquisition interest from another unnamed prospective buyer, according to The Information. Separate reporting by Business Insider indicated that Hugging Face engaged a banking firm in recent days to evaluate corporate interest from potential acquirers. An anonymous source additionally confirmed to CNBC that acquisition talks involving Nvidia had been actively occurring.

If finalized, the transaction would grant Nvidia ownership over a dominant platform where software developers build, test, and distribute open-source artificial intelligence models. The deal would expand the hardware manufacturer’s footprint into the broader software and artificial intelligence model landscape.

The reported transaction comes alongside aggressive expansion efforts by Nvidia across the technology ecosystem. Over the preceding year, the chip manufacturer has executed multiple large transactions, including a licensing deal valued at $20 billion with chip startup Groq. Nvidia also announced quarterly financial results on Wednesday, driving its stock price up by four percent during extended trading hours.

Market observers note that adding Hugging Face aligns with Nvidia’s overall corporate focus. Siddy Jobe, a fund manager at Eonopolis Exponential Technologies funds, stated during an interview on CNBC that Nvidia seeks full vertical integration across foundational models, energy, and software applications. Jobe noted that “I think Nvidia is very much a community, a platform-based company” and pointed out that foundational models form an integral tier of the company’s long-term structure.

The report follows a security incident at Hugging Face that highlighted vulnerabilities in rapidly evolving artificial intelligence infrastructure. Hugging Face Chief Executive Officer Clément Delangue attributed the breach to engineering errors and noted that the firm employed an Nvidia-modified version of a Chinese open-source model to address the vulnerability. Delangue previously expressed optimism regarding open-source tools in security, telling CNBC that “open models will be kings” in the expanding digital defense sector.

Background

Hugging Face operates as a central repository and collaboration hub for developers working with artificial intelligence, providing hosting for code, datasets, and machine learning models. Open-source models on the platform allow researchers and software engineers worldwide to inspect, modify, and build upon existing artificial intelligence tools without relying exclusively on proprietary systems.

Nvidia is a prominent designer of graphics processing units and specialized computer hardware that power modern artificial intelligence applications. In recent years, the company has increasingly expanded beyond hardware manufacturing to build software frameworks and platforms that support artificial intelligence development.