SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA / RankWire.AI / – Nvidia has reached a binding agreement to acquire Hugging Face in a deal valued at approximately $12.93 billion. The agreement was signed on September 2, 2026, with Nvidia planning to pay about $11.9 billion to Hugging Face shareholders, subject to standard adjustments. The deal also includes the potential granting of up to roughly $1 billion in equity-based retention awards for eligible employees. Nvidia anticipates closing the acquisition in the first half of 2027, contingent upon necessary approvals and closing conditions.
Hugging Face provides a popular platform for AI models, datasets, applications, and developer tools. Nvidia states that over 18 million developers, researchers, and creators utilize the service. The platform hosts more than 3 million AI models, approximately 500,000 datasets, and supports over 1 million applications. Additionally, more than 200,000 companies leverage Hugging Face for tasks such as model discovery, testing, customization, and deployment across various computing environments.
Following the acquisition, Hugging Face will maintain its support for developers working with diverse models, frameworks, cloud providers, and computing platforms. Nvidia emphasized that its hardware will not become a prerequisite for using the platform. The platform will also continue hosting open-source and open-weight models from multiple developers and organizations, with ongoing support for various cloud services and accelerator technologies. Nvidia has also pledged to uphold compatibility with silicon products from companies other than Nvidia once the transaction is finalized.
Platform will remain accessible across various hardware options
Hugging Face was founded in 2016 by Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond, and Thomas Wolf. The firm expanded from providing software tools into hosting models, datasets, applications, and cloud-based AI development services. In August 2023, Hugging Face achieved a valuation of $4.5 billion following a funding round that raised $235 million. Nvidia had an existing relationship with Hugging Face before reaching the acquisition agreement, including projects that linked Hugging Face users with Nvidia computing resources and software.
Nvidia disclosed the deal through a Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on September 3, 2026. The filing confirmed that the acquisition was still pending and outlined the conditions that must be met before closing, including regulatory approvals and customary closing procedures. Nvidia also separately detailed its commitments for Hugging Face post-closing, such as continued access to models and datasets, multi-cloud support, and compatibility with hardware from other semiconductor manufacturers.
Regulatory approval remains a key condition for completion
Nvidia already provides a substantial collection of AI resources through the Hugging Face platform, including more than 500 models and over 250 open datasets. The company also offers software libraries and development tools that users can adapt for their projects. Hugging Face serves corporations, researchers, and independent developers through various phases of AI development, including model discovery, performance evaluation, customization, and deployment of AI applications.
The completion of Nvidia’s acquisition of Hugging Face depends on meeting the specified conditions and gaining approvals. Nvidia expects the $12.93 billion deal to close during the first half of 2027. Until then, Hugging Face will continue supporting multiple clouds, frameworks, inference providers, and hardware platforms. Developers will still have access to hardware options beyond Nvidia products. During the interim, Nvidia and Hugging Face will operate independently under the terms of their agreement.