Nvidia reportedly reaches $12.9 billion deal for Hugging Face

Nvidia has reportedly reached an agreement to acquire Hugging Face, one of the largest open platforms for artificial intelligence models and datasets, for $12.9 billion.

According to a report by The Information citing a source familiar with the matter, if the process is completed, the transaction will be one of the largest acquisitions in Nvidia's history. The acquisition price indicates a very high valuation for Hugging Face, which is stated to have an annual revenue of approximately $150 million.

The US-based Hugging Face allows developers and researchers to share artificial intelligence models, datasets, and software code. The platform stands out as one of the central repositories playing a key role in the growth of the open-source artificial intelligence ecosystem.

STRATEGIC STEP IN THE OPEN MODEL ECOSYSTEM

Nvidia had previously approached Hugging Face as an investor. In 2023, the company participated in Hugging Face's $235 million investment round alongside Salesforce and Google; following this round, the platform's valuation reached $4.5 billion.

A report published by the Financial Times in January stated that Hugging Face had rejected a $500 million investment offer from Nvidia in 2025. According to the report, the offer in question would have brought the company to a $7 billion valuation; the platform's management had stated that they did not want a single dominant investor who could influence their decision-making processes.

The news of the potential acquisition comes at a time when demand for Nvidia's artificial intelligence chips and infrastructure remains strong. The company's second-quarter revenue was recorded at $96.2 billion; this figure represents an 18 percent increase compared to the previous quarter and a 106 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

Nvidia expects $108 billion in revenue for the third quarter of the fiscal year, with a 2 percent margin of error. It was noted that the company did not include computing capacity revenues for data centers in China in this forecast.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang emphasized that demand for artificial intelligence is accelerating, describing the current period as a "golden age" for new artificial intelligence laboratories and startups. Huang said that the open model ecosystem is strengthening and that physical artificial intelligence is gaining momentum in the US and globally.

News Source: 12punto