NVIDIA Acquires Open-Source AI Platform Hugging Face for $12.93 Billion, in Largest Deal Ever

[Financial News]  NVIDIA, a semiconductor company, has agreed to acquire Hugging Face, the world’s largest open-source artificial intelligence (AI) platform, for approximately $12.93 billion, or about 17.3 trillion won. The deal is the largest merger and acquisition (M&A) in NVIDIA’s history and represents a strategic move to expand its influence beyond hardware and across the broader AI developer ecosystem.
Foreign media reported on the 8th, local time, citing filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and announcements from both companies, that NVIDIA will pay Hugging Face shareholders approximately $11.9 billion under an agreement announced on the 3rd. It will also invest up to an additional $1 billion in stock-based compensation to help prevent employee departures.
Hugging Face is the world’s largest platform for sharing open-source AI models and datasets. As of spring 2026, it had more than 2 million public models and over 50,000 datasets, with 13 million users.
The acquisition is part of a strategy to strengthen the open-source AI ecosystem and compete with OpenAI and Anthropic, which lead the proprietary AI market. The Wall Street Journal assessed that NVIDIA is expanding its influence across the AI development pipeline by supporting open models that pose a threat to closed models.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said in a statement, "Open models enhance safety and cybersecurity, accelerate innovation, and enable sovereignty in the AI industry." NVIDIA pledged to keep Hugging Face as a platform open to the entire AI ecosystem after the acquisition.
The deal is part of the intensifying battle among big tech companies for leadership in AI. In May 2025, OpenAI acquired io, an AI hardware startup founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive, for $6.5 billion, but NVIDIA’s acquisition far exceeds that amount. According to Bain & Company, large deals worth more than $5 billion accounted for over 73% of overall M&A growth in 2025, with AI-related assets driving most of the activity.
Through the acquisition, NVIDIA is transforming from a chip manufacturer into a platform company that leads the broader software and developer ecosystem. By directly securing access to a developer base of millions, it has created a foundation for shaping AI model trends and accelerating the adoption of its AI tools and infrastructure. Backed by strong financial performance and high margins, NVIDIA is actively pursuing major M&A deals while maintaining investment in its core hardware business.


[email protected] Jae-jun Yoon Reporter