SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA / RankWire.AI / – Nvidia has finalized a definitive agreement to acquire Hugging Face in a transaction valued at approximately $12.93 billion. The deal was signed on September 2, 2026. Nvidia plans to pay about $11.9 billion to Hugging Face’s shareholders, subject to standard adjustments. Additionally, the agreement includes up to roughly $1 billion in equity-based retention awards aimed at eligible employees. Nvidia anticipates completing the acquisition in the first half of 2027, contingent upon necessary approvals and closing conditions.
Hugging Face offers a popular platform for AI models, datasets, applications, and developer tools. Nvidia states that over 18 million developers, researchers, and content creators utilize the platform. It hosts more than 3 million AI models and around 500,000 datasets, while supporting more than 1 million applications. More than 200,000 companies rely on 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 different models, frameworks, cloud providers, and computing platforms. Nvidia has assured that its hardware will not become a mandatory requirement for using the platform. The platform will also persist in hosting open-source and open-weight models from diverse developers and organizations. Support for multiple cloud environments and accelerator technologies will remain intact. Nvidia has additionally committed to maintaining compatibility with silicon products from other companies after the transaction is finalized.
Platform access will stay open across various hardware options
Hugging Face was founded in 2016 by Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond, and Thomas Wolf. Since its inception, the company has expanded from offering software tools into hosting models, datasets, applications, and providing cloud-based AI development services. In an August 2023 funding round, Hugging Face reached a valuation of $4.5 billion after raising $235 million. Nvidia’s relationship with the company predates the acquisition agreement, including collaborative projects that linked Hugging Face users with Nvidia’s 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 notes that the acquisition is still pending and lists conditions that must be met before closing. These include regulatory approvals and customary closing provisions. Nvidia separately outlined commitments for Hugging Face’s operations post-acquisition, such as continued access to models and datasets, multi-cloud support, and compatibility with hardware from other semiconductor manufacturers.
The acquisition awaits regulatory approval
Nvidia already offers a broad range of AI resources via the Hugging Face platform. The company reports having published more than 500 models and over 250 open datasets there. Nvidia also supplies software libraries and development tools that users can adapt to their projects. Hugging Face supports organizations, researchers, and independent developers at various stages of AI development, including model discovery, performance evaluation, customization, and AI application deployment.
Until the conditions and approvals are fulfilled, the Nvidia acquisition of Hugging Face will remain incomplete. Nvidia currently predicts that the $12.93 billion deal will close in the first half of 2027. Under the commitments announced, Hugging Face will continue supporting multiple clouds, frameworks, inference providers, and computing platforms. Developers will retain access to hardware options beyond Nvidia’s offerings. During the interim period, Nvidia and Hugging Face will operate as separate entities under the existing agreement.