Archive · 4 Sep 2026
NVIDIA Announces $12.93 Billion Acquisition of Hugging Face
NVIDIA makes computer chips that help artificial intelligence run.
Hugging Face is an online platform where people share AI models, data and applications.
NVIDIA announced that it plans to acquire Hugging Face for $12.93 billion.
More than 18 million people use the platform, along with more than 200,000 companies.
Jensen Huang said Hugging Face will remain open after the deal.
Users will still be able to choose different models, software, cloud services and computer systems.
NVIDIA computers will not be required to use the platform.
The acquisition could help NVIDIA become more involved in open AI and cloud computing.
Some people are also questioning the large sums being spent on AI and worrying about data centers and job losses.
NVIDIA announced plans to acquire AI platform Hugging Face for $12.93 billion.
Hugging Face has more than 18 million users sharing over 3 million models, 500,000 datasets and 1 million applications.
More than 200,000 companies use Hugging Face to discover, customize and deploy AI.
CEO Jensen Huang said Hugging Face will remain open and support multiple models, frameworks, clouds and computing platforms.
The deal could expand NVIDIA beyond chips, support open AI and cloud computing, while raising concerns about AI spending, data centers and jobs.
- Who
- NVIDIA, Hugging Face and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang.
- What
- NVIDIA announced an agreement to acquire the AI platform Hugging Face for $12.93 billion.
- When
- The announcement was made on a Thursday; the articles do not provide a specific date.
- Where
- Hugging Face is based in New York, while NVIDIA is based in Santa Clara, California; the platform serves users worldwide.
- Why
- NVIDIA said the deal will scale Hugging Face, strengthen its infrastructure and expand access to AI. Analysts also described possible benefits involving open-source AI, cloud computing and future chip demand.
Strategic Opportunity
Industry Concerns
Platform openness
Strategic Opportunity
NVIDIA says Hugging Face will remain open, support open-source and open-weight models, and let users choose their models, frameworks, cloud providers, inference services and computing platforms.
Industry Concerns
The acquisition gives NVIDIA a more central role in the open-AI ecosystem, even though the articles do not cite a specific claim that Hugging Face will become closed.
NVIDIA’s business strategy
Strategic Opportunity
The deal could give NVIDIA a foothold in open AI, expand its cloud-computing presence and help sustain demand for its chips and computing resources.
Industry Concerns
The acquisition reflects NVIDIA’s effort to expand beyond hardware as technology companies develop their own AI chips and as questions grow about whether massive AI investments will pay off.
Broader effects of AI growth
Strategic Opportunity
Open models can help startups, businesses, universities and public institutions use advanced AI without training every model from scratch.
Industry Concerns
The articles report objections to expanding data centers, concerns about unused cloud capacity and fears that rapid AI adoption could cause widespread job losses.
- Deal value
- $12.93 billion; one headline described it as $12.9 billion.
- Acquirer
- NVIDIA
- Target
- Hugging Face
- Platform users
- More than 18 million developers, researchers and creators
- Shared content
- More than 3 million models, 500,000 datasets and 1 million applications
- Company users
- More than 200,000 companies
- Open-platform policy
- Hugging Face is expected to remain open, and NVIDIA computing will not be required to build on or deploy through it.
Sources
NVIDIA acquires AI startup Hugging Face for $12.9 billion
Why is Jensen Huang-led Nvidia acquiring AI platform Hugging Face for $12.9 billion? Here's what we know
Nvidia bets big on AI, to acquire Hugging Face in $12.93 billion deal; Jensen Huang says it will remain ‘open platform’