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Nvidia has been in talks to acquire Hugging Face, the popular AI platform for sharing and building with open-source models, in what could be one of the chip giant's biggest deals yet.
The two parties have had acquisition conversations in recent weeks about a deal that would value Hugging Face at more than $13 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. The companies have not yet reached a deal, and the talks could still fall apart, the person said.
Nvidia and Hugging Face did not respond to requests for comment.
Nvidia has increasingly ramped up dealmaking with its enormous cash pile. The company said Wednesday that it has $18 billion committed to equity investments for the rest of its fiscal year, on top of $47.9 billion it already holds in private companies.
Microsoft also met with Hugging Face, but the person familiar and a second person said talks are not ongoing.
Nvidia already has a relationship with Hugging Face. The chipmaker participated in its $235 million funding round in 2023 that valued it at $4.5 billion.
Hugging Face turned down a $500 million investment offer from Nvidia late last year that would have valued it at $7 billion, the Financial Times previously reported. Hugging Face said at the time it did not want a dominant investor that could sway decisions.
Hugging Face sits at the center of the open-source AI ecosystem, hosting millions of AI models and datasets that developers can build on. Owning the platform could give Nvidia a bigger foothold with those developers — and potentially drive more workloads onto its chips.
But Nvidia ownership could also complicate one of Hugging Face's strengths: its neutrality. The platform supports models and hardware from across the industry, including Nvidia competitors such as AMD and Intel.
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Geoff Weiss is a senior reporter on Business Insider’s tech team, where he writes about AI startups and Y Combinator, the intersection of AI and the media industry, and workplace dynamics within top AI labs and chip companies.Previously, Geoff was on the media desk, covering YouTube and Netflix, and themes like the intersection of Hollywood and the creator economy. His work on Netflix’s video podcasting ambitions and Mr Beast’s lessons for Hollywood won second and first prize, respectively, at the 2025 LA Press Club Awards.Prior to joining Business Insider, Geoff was the senior editor of Tubefilter and a staff writer at Entrepreneur. He graduated from New York University with a degree in English Literature.He can be reached at [email protected], on Signal @geoffweiss.25, and on LinkedIn. Have a tip? Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.Selected stories:Nvidia crushed its quarter — and CEO Jensen Huang said in a leaked all-hands that 'the market did not appreciate it'Nvidia will foot the bill for Trump's new visa fees. Here's what CEO Jensen Huang told staff.Massive AI salaries and RTO are fueling a real estate boom in San Francisco: 'It's going to rain money'The AI talent wars are ricocheting across startups. Here's how they're competing with Big Tech.
