One-sentence summary: Nvidia has been in talks to acquire the open-source AI platform Hugging Face for over $13 billion in recent weeks.
What's happening
Nvidia and Hugging Face have been discussing an acquisition in recent weeks, with a deal value of over $13 billion (approximately 18 trillion won) being discussed.
An agreement has not yet been reached, and there is still a possibility that the negotiations could fall through, sources said.
Both companies did not respond to requests for comment.
Microsoft has also met with Hugging Face, but there are currently no ongoing negotiations, according to reports.
Background
Nvidia has already participated in a $235 million funding round for Hugging Face in 2023. The company's valuation at the time was $4.5 billion.
Last year, Nvidia proposed a $500 million investment in Hugging Face valued at $7 billion, but it was rejected. Hugging Face cited its desire not to have a dominant investor that could influence decision-making.
Nvidia continues to increase its acquisitions and investments with substantial cash reserves. The company has committed to spending $18 billion on equity investments in the remaining period of this fiscal year and has already reported holding $47.9 billion in cash for unlisted companies.
Significance and Issues
Hugging Face is at the heart of the open-source AI ecosystem, hosting millions of AI models and datasets. Acquiring it would significantly increase Nvidia's influence over the developer ecosystem and allow it to attract more workloads to its chips.
On the other hand, Nvidia ownership could undermine Hugging Face's key strength of 'neutrality'. The platform currently supports a wide range of models and hardware from Nvidia competitors such as AMD and Intel.
▶ Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/nvidia-in-talks-to-buy-hugging-face-13-billion-dollars-2026-8
