Chip giant Nvidia snaps up AI model repository in record $13B acquisition

Nvidia has agreed to acquire Hugging Face, a major platform for open AI models and datasets, for $13 billion. The deal marks Nvidia's largest outright purchase, surpassing its 2020 Mellanox acquisition, and is expected to close by 2027. Nvidia says it will keep Hugging Face's open ecosystem intact, aiming to accelerate adoption of open-weight AI models across industries.

The acquisition price represents a significant premium over the $7 billion valuation Hugging Face commanded when it declined Nvidia's investment overture last year. The platform currently hosts roughly 3 million open AI models, 500,000 datasets, and 1 million applications, serving more than 18 million developers and 200,000 businesses.

Nvidia's previous record purchase was the $6.9 billion Mellanox deal in 2020, which helped the company expand beyond chip design into full data center infrastructure. The chipmaker has also backed open-model developers like Reflection AI and infrastructure firms CoreWeave and Nebius. The transaction faces potential regulatory review before its expected 2027 close.