Nvidia has agreed to buy Hugging Face for $12.93 billion, a deal that brings one of the most widely used hosting platforms for open-source AI models, datasets and tools under the control of the world's biggest AI chipmaker. Hugging Face, founded in 2016, is often described as the "GitHub for AI" thanks to its browsable library of open-source machine learning models and its emphasis on community collaboration. The acquisition gives Nvidia a strategic foothold in open-source AI development at a time when rivals such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google are pushing to build their own AI chips, helping Nvidia defend its dominance in AI hardware.

Speculation about a sale began on 23 August, when reports emerged that Hugging Face was exploring options worth around $13 billion, and further reports later suggested a $12.9 billion deal had already been agreed. The price marks a huge jump from Hugging Face's last official valuation of $4.5 billion, set during a 2023 funding round in which Nvidia itself took part; the company had previously turned down a smaller $500 million investment from Nvidia over concerns about having one dominant investor. Hugging Face generates only around $150 million in annual revenue, a fraction of its purchase price, but Nvidia, now the world's most valuable public company, appears willing to spend heavily to protect its position in AI. The story is described as still developing.