SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA / RankWire.AI / – Nvidia has finalized a deal to acquire Hugging Face for $12.93 billion, as announced on Thursday through a definitive agreement. The transaction was signed on September 2, 2026, with Nvidia set to pay approximately $11.9 billion to Hugging Face shareholders, subject to certain adjustments. Additionally, the deal includes up to about $1 billion in equity-based retention awards aimed at employees who will join Nvidia. The closing of this acquisition is projected to occur in the first half of 2027, contingent upon the approval of relevant regulatory bodies.
Hugging Face provides a highly popular platform used for creating, sharing, and deploying AI models, datasets, and applications. Nvidia reported that over 18 million developers, researchers, and creators utilize the platform. The company hosts more than 3 million models, 500,000 datasets, and 1 million applications. Its services are also used by more than 200,000 companies to discover, assess, customize, and implement AI solutions. The platform has established itself as a key hub for open-source and open-weight AI innovation.
Nvidia emphasized that Hugging Face will continue to support developers working with various models, frameworks, cloud services, and computing platforms. Nvidia hardware will not become a mandatory component for building or deploying projects via Hugging Face. The platform will also keep supporting open-source and open-weight models from different developers. Nvidia assured that Hugging Face will maintain compatibility with multiple cloud providers and accelerator platforms, including ongoing access for users employing hardware from other semiconductor companies.
Deal safeguards Hugging Face’s open platform approach
Hugging Face was founded in 2016 by French entrepreneurs Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond, and Thomas Wolf. The company developed various software libraries alongside its core services for hosting models and datasets. During its last publicly disclosed funding round in August 2023, Hugging Face was valued at $4.5 billion after raising $235 million from technology investors. Prior to the acquisition, Nvidia and Hugging Face collaborated on projects that enabled developers to access Nvidia’s computing infrastructure through familiar Hugging Face tools.
Nvidia revealed the definitive agreement in a Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on September 3. The filing confirms that the acquisition has not yet been finalized. Finalization depends on standard closing procedures and regulatory clearances. Nvidia also reaffirmed its commitment to keeping Hugging Face’s platform open according to existing practices. This includes support for uploading and downloading selected models and datasets, as well as ongoing compatibility with hardware and services from other silicon vendors.
Regulatory processes still need to be completed before the deal is finalized
Nvidia has already established a significant presence on the Hugging Face platform through its open AI releases, publishing over 500 models and 250 datasets. The company also develops libraries and tools for developers, which can be modified and built upon freely. Hugging Face offers infrastructure for researchers, companies, and independent developers working on AI, including model hosting, datasets, software tools, and cloud resources for building and deploying AI applications.
The $12.93 billion Nvidia-Hugging Face deal remains contingent upon the fulfillment of closing conditions. Nvidia states that Hugging Face will continue supporting models from across the AI landscape after the deal closes. Developers will retain their options regarding models, frameworks, cloud platforms, inference providers, and computing environments under the announced commitments. Support for multi-cloud and multi-accelerator deployment will persist, with Nvidia expecting the transaction to conclude in the first half of 2027 following necessary regulatory approvals.