SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA / RankWire.AI / – Nvidia has reached a definitive agreement to purchase Hugging Face in a deal valued at approximately $12.93 billion. The agreement was signed on September 2, 2026. Nvidia plans to pay around $11.9 billion to Hugging Face shareholders, with adjustments according to usual terms. Additionally, the deal includes up to about $1 billion in equity-based retention awards for eligible employees. Nvidia anticipates the acquisition will be finalized in the first half of 2027, subject to necessary approvals and closing conditions.
Hugging Face provides a popular platform for AI models, datasets, applications, and developer tools. Nvidia reports that over 18 million developers, researchers, and creators utilize the platform. The service hosts more than 3 million AI models and roughly 500,000 datasets. It also supports over 1 million applications. More than 200,000 companies rely on Hugging Face for tasks such as model discovery, testing, customization, and deployment across various computing environments.
Hugging Face will continue to support developers working with different models, frameworks, cloud providers, and computing platforms. Nvidia emphasized that its hardware will not become a mandatory requirement for using the platform. The company also confirmed that the platform will keep hosting open-source and open-weight models from multiple developers and organizations. Support for various clouds and accelerator technologies will remain accessible. Nvidia has committed to maintaining compatibility with silicon products produced by other companies after the deal closes.
Access to the platform will remain flexible across various hardware options
Hugging Face was founded in 2016 by Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond, and Thomas Wolf. Over time, the company expanded from offering software tools into hosting models, datasets, applications, and providing cloud-based AI development services. In an August 2023 funding round, Hugging Face was valued at $4.5 billion after raising $235 million. Nvidia had an existing relationship with Hugging Face before the acquisition agreement was signed. Their previous collaborations included projects connecting Hugging Face users with Nvidia computing resources and software.
Nvidia announced the agreement through a Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on September 3, 2026. The filing states that the acquisition is still pending. It also details conditions that need to be fulfilled before closing, including regulatory approvals and customary closing provisions. Nvidia also outlined commitments for Hugging Face post-closing, such as continued access to models and datasets, multi-cloud support, and compatibility with hardware from other semiconductor companies.
Approval from regulators remains necessary for the deal to proceed
Nvidia already distributes numerous AI resources via the Hugging Face platform. The company reports hosting over 500 models and more than 250 open datasets there. Nvidia also offers software libraries and development tools that users can adapt for their own projects. Hugging Face serves a broad range of clients, including companies, researchers, and independent developers. Their activities span model discovery, performance evaluation, system customization, and deployment of AI applications.
The acquisition will only be completed once all conditions and approvals are met. Nvidia currently expects the $12.93 billion transaction to conclude during the first half of 2027. According to their commitments, Hugging Face will continue supporting multiple clouds, frameworks, inference providers, and computing platforms. Developers will retain access to hardware options beyond Nvidia products. Until the deal is finalized, Nvidia and Hugging Face will operate as separate entities under the terms of the agreement.