Reports from Business Insider indicate that NVIDIA is currently in discussions to acquire the company Hugging Face, known for its platform used for distributing AI models and data sets for machine learning. The potential deal, which has not yet been finalized, could be at risk of falling through. However, information obtained from an employee involved in the negotiations by The Information suggests that both companies have already come to an agreement on the transaction amount, set at a substantial $12.9 billion. This figure far surpasses Hugging Face’s reported income of $150 million in the past year.
NVIDIA had previously invested $235 million in Hugging Face back in 2023, resulting in the company being valued at $4.5 billion. Plans were in place for NVIDIA to make an additional $500 million investment in 2025, which would have increased the valuation to $7 billion. However, Hugging Face declined the offer, citing concerns about having a dominant investor who could potentially influence decision-making processes. Discussions regarding the sale of Hugging Face had also taken place with Microsoft, but ultimately the two companies were unable to reach an agreement, leading to the breakdown of negotiations.