SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA / RankWire.AI / – Nvidia has finalized a definitive agreement to acquire Hugging Face in a deal valued at approximately $12.93 billion. The signing occurred on September 2, 2026, with Nvidia set to pay about $11.9 billion to Hugging Face stockholders, subject to customary adjustments. The deal also includes up to roughly $1 billion in equity-based retention awards for eligible employees. Nvidia anticipates completing the acquisition in the first half of 2027, pending necessary approvals and closing conditions.
Hugging Face provides a popular platform for AI models, datasets, applications, and developer tools. Nvidia states that more than 18 million developers, researchers, and creators utilize the platform. It hosts over 3 million AI models and around 500,000 datasets, in addition to supporting over 1 million applications. More than 200,000 companies leverage 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 diverse models, frameworks, cloud providers, and computing platforms. Nvidia has emphasized that its hardware will not become a prerequisite for using the service. The platform will keep hosting open-source and open-weight models from multiple developers and organizations. Compatibility with different clouds and accelerator technologies will remain available. Nvidia has also committed to maintaining compatibility with silicon products from companies other than Nvidia after the transaction concludes.
Open platform access will persist across various hardware options
Hugging Face was founded in 2016 by Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond, and Thomas Wolf. Initially focused on software tools, the company expanded into model hosting, 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 prior to signing the acquisition agreement, including projects that connected users with Nvidia computing resources and software.
The company disclosed the deal 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 and outlines the conditions that need to be satisfied before closing. These include regulatory approvals and standard closing provisions. Nvidia also outlined commitments for Hugging Face operations post-closing, such as ongoing access to models and datasets, multi-cloud compatibility, and support for hardware from other semiconductor companies.
Regulatory approval remains necessary for the acquisition to proceed
Nvidia already offers a broad range of AI resources through the Hugging Face platform, which it states includes over 500 published models and more than 250 open datasets. The company also provides software libraries and development tools for users to customize for their projects. Hugging Face serves corporations, researchers, and independent developers across various stages of AI development, including model discovery, performance evaluation, system customization, and application deployment. AI applications are among the deployment activities supported.
The completion of Nvidia’s acquisition of Hugging Face depends on fulfilling the necessary conditions and obtaining approvals. Nvidia projects that the $12.93 billion deal will close during the first half of 2027. Under the disclosed commitments, Hugging Face will continue supporting multiple clouds, frameworks, inference providers, and computing platforms. Developers will also retain access to hardware options beyond Nvidia’s products. Until the deal is finalized, Nvidia and Hugging Face will operate as separate entities under the terms of their agreement.