Nvidia has officially confirmed the acquisition of Hugging Face for $12,93 billion. The negotiations between the companies began several weeks ago, with reports of a potential deal emerging last week.
Hugging Face operates a platform hosting over 500 000 datasets and two million AI models. The company also recently launched a robotic duck, which generated $5 million in sales within five days of its release.
The startup previously secured funding from major industry players, including Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, and Salesforce. Salesforce had reportedly considered acquiring the company prior to the Nvidia deal.
Nvidia plans to keep the platform open, allowing users to deploy workloads on various cloud infrastructures and hardware. CEO Jensen Huang stated that the service will remain compatible with multiple AI chips.
Analysts suggest the deal provides Nvidia with insights into developer preferences and emerging model architectures. This data will help the company refine its future chip designs and software strategies.
This transaction marks Nvidia’s second-largest startup deal, following its $20 billion licensing agreement with Grok Inc. last year, which provided access to inference-optimized chip technology.