NVIDIA’s $12.9 billion deal with Hugging Face is a bet on AI distribution

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NVIDIA has reportedly agreed to acquire Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, according to The Information, in a deal that would move the AI chip leader deeper into the software and developer layer of artificial intelligence. The timing is strategic: open models are gaining adoption as major AI labs try to reduce their dependence on NVIDIA hardware by developing rival chips. Reuters said neither company had publicly commented when it reported the agreement.

Hugging Face has become a key distribution hub for AI models, datasets and developer tools. Its platform now lists more than 3 million models, while a Hugging Face report said the community reached 13 million users and more than 500,000 public datasets in 2025. NVIDIA was already an investor in Hugging Face’s $235 million funding round in 2023, which valued the company at $4.5 billion.

That makes the reported price nearly three times the 2023 valuation. The premium suggests NVIDIA is buying more than revenue: it is seeking influence over the place where open-model developers discover, test and deploy AI. “Open models are the lifeblood of innovation and the engine of global participation in the AI revolution,” CEO Jensen Huang has said.

NVIDIA’s latest quarter shows the financial capacity behind that push. Revenue reached $96.2 billion, up 106% year on year, while data-center revenue hit $89 billion. The numbers also explain why NVIDIA can make a large strategic bet even on a platform whose value lies partly in ecosystem control.

If completed, the deal could also draw competition scrutiny. Hugging Face serves developers across a broad hardware ecosystem, including alternatives to NVIDIA, so customers and chipmakers may watch closely for changes in neutrality. NVIDIA’s failed $40 billion Arm acquisition, abandoned in 2022 after significant regulatory challenges, remains a useful precedent for how control of widely used technology infrastructure can attract antitrust attention.