A Massive AI Acquisition
On September 3, 2026, Nvidia Corp. formally agreed to purchase the artificial intelligence startup Hugging Face. The monumental transaction is broadly valued by the companies at about $13 billion. Specifically, the finalized purchase price for the acquisition is firmly set at $12.93 billion.
This landmark deal brings one of the most popular hosting platforms for open-source AI models, datasets, and tools under the direct ownership of Nvidia. The acquiring company is currently recognized globally as the world's biggest AI chipmaker.
To successfully secure the startup's existing talent, the acquisition agreement includes a specialized compensation package. The deal features an equity-based retention program worth up to $1 billion designed specifically for Hugging Face employees who transition to Nvidia. Carmen Reinicke reported on these specific financial transaction details during a broadcast for Bloomberg Television.
Despite taking control of this major AI hub, Nvidia stated that Hugging Face will stay open. The chipmaker shared its broader vision for the acquisition, stating: "Together, we will scale Hugging Face's platform, strengthen its infrastructure and expand access to AI for develo...".
The GitHub of Artificial Intelligence
Founded in 2016, Hugging Face operates as an online platform that provides AI developers a dedicated space for their software engineering work. It allows them to freely share their machine learning projects and data with other users, as well as the general public.
The platform is frequently described by industry observers as the "GitHub" for AI. This common comparison is largely due to its highly browsable library of open-source machine learning models and its heavy emphasis on community collaboration features.
The overall scale of the platform is substantial, firmly establishing it as a premier AI software repository. According to Nvidia's official statements confirming the $12.93 billion acquisition, Hugging Face currently hosts a massive inventory of more than 3 million models.
Furthermore, the platform's user base has grown to immense proportions since its initial launch. Nvidia confirmed that the Hugging Face repository is now actively used by a massive community of over 18 million developers.