SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA / RankWire.AI / – Nvidia has reached an agreement to acquire Hugging Face for $12.93 billion, as announced in a definitive transaction on Thursday. The signing of the deal took place on September 2, 2026. Nvidia intends to pay approximately $11.9 billion to Hugging Face shareholders, subject to certain adjustments. Additionally, the deal includes up to around $1 billion in equity-based retention awards for employees joining Nvidia. The transaction is projected to close in the first half of 2027, pending necessary regulatory approvals.
Hugging Face provides a widely adopted platform for creating, sharing, and deploying AI models, datasets, and applications. Nvidia stated that more than 18 million developers, researchers, and creators utilize the platform. Hugging Face hosts over 3 million models, 500,000 datasets, and 1 million applications. Its services are used by more than 200,000 companies to discover, evaluate, customize, and deploy AI systems. The platform has become a central hub for open-source and open-weight AI development.
Nvidia emphasized that Hugging Face will continue to be accessible to developers using various models, frameworks, cloud providers, and computing platforms. Hardware from Nvidia will not be mandatory for building or deploying projects through Hugging Face. The platform will also sustain support for open-source and open-weight models from multiple developers. Nvidia confirmed that Hugging Face will support numerous cloud services and accelerator platforms, including continued access for developers using hardware from other semiconductor companies.
Deal Ensures Hugging Face’s Open Platform Continues
Hugging Face was founded in 2016 by French entrepreneurs Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond, and Thomas Wolf. The company developed software libraries alongside its model and dataset hosting services. In its last disclosed funding round in August 2023, Hugging Face was valued at $4.5 billion. That round raised $235 million from technology investors. Prior to the acquisition, Nvidia and Hugging Face collaborated on projects providing developers with access to Nvidia’s computing infrastructure through familiar Hugging Face tools.
Nvidia filed a Form 8-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on September 3, formally disclosing the agreement. The filing confirms that the acquisition has not yet been finalized. Closing depends on standard conditions and regulatory approvals. Nvidia also committed to maintaining the open nature of Hugging Face’s platform under existing policies. This includes support for uploading and downloading select models and datasets, as well as ongoing support for silicon vendors other than Nvidia.
Regulatory Approvals Still Needed Before Finalization
Nvidia has already established a significant presence on the Hugging Face platform through its open AI releases. The company reports publishing more than 500 models and over 250 open datasets there. Nvidia also offers libraries and tools that developers can modify, use, and build upon. Hugging Face provides infrastructure for researchers, companies, and independent developers working with AI. Its services include model hosting, datasets, software tools, and cloud-based resources for developing and deploying AI applications.
The $12.93 billion Nvidia-Hugging Face deal remains pending until all closing conditions are met. Nvidia assured that Hugging Face will continue to support models across the AI landscape after the acquisition completes. Developers will retain options involving models, frameworks, clouds, inference providers, and computing platforms, consistent with existing commitments. The platform will also persist in supporting multi-cloud and multi-accelerator deployment. Nvidia expects the transaction to finalize in the first half of 2027 after securing all necessary regulatory approvals.