Nvidia in Advanced Talks to Acquire Hugging Face for Over $13 Billion
Nvidia is negotiating a potential acquisition of AI platform Hugging Face valued at more than $13 billion, though no agreement has been reached.
Nvidia has entered advanced discussions to purchase Hugging Face, the open-source AI model repository, in a deal that could value the company at over $13 billion, according to a source familiar with the talks. The two firms have not finalized an agreement and the negotiations could still collapse.
Both companies declined to comment on the matter. Nvidia, which has been expanding its investment portfolio, disclosed on Wednesday that it has $18 billion earmarked for equity investments for the remainder of its fiscal year, in addition to $47.9 billion already held in private-company stakes.
Microsoft also held meetings with Hugging Face, but sources say those discussions are no longer active. Nvidia previously participated in Hugging Face’s $235 million funding round in 2023, which valued the startup at $4.5 billion. Last year, Hugging Face rejected a $500 million investment from Nvidia that would have placed the valuation at $7 billion, citing concerns about a dominant investor influencing decisions.
Hugging Face serves as a central hub for the open-source AI community, hosting millions of models and datasets. Ownership by Nvidia could deepen the chipmaker’s engagement with developers and potentially increase demand for its hardware, though it might also raise questions about the platform’s neutrality, as it currently supports hardware from competitors such as AMD and Intel.