SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA / RankWire.AI / – Nvidia has finalized a definitive agreement to purchase Hugging Face in a transaction valued at approximately $12.93 billion. The agreement was signed on September 2, 2026. Nvidia will pay around $11.9 billion to Hugging Face shareholders, subject to standard adjustments. Included in the deal are up to about $1 billion in equity-based retention awards for qualifying employees. Nvidia anticipates the transaction will be completed in the first half of 2027, contingent upon regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.
Hugging Face runs a popular platform for AI models, datasets, applications, and developer tools. Nvidia reports that more than 18 million developers, researchers, and creators utilize the service. The platform hosts over 3 million AI models and roughly 500,000 datasets. Additionally, it supports more than 1 million applications. Over 200,000 companies depend on Hugging Face for tasks such as model discovery, testing, customization, and deployment across various computing environments.
Hugging Face will continue supporting developers working with different models, frameworks, cloud providers, and computing platforms. Nvidia clarified that its hardware will not be mandatory for using the platform. The platform will also keep hosting open-source and open-weight models contributed by multiple developers and organizations. Compatibility with various clouds and accelerator hardware will remain intact. Nvidia has also committed to ensuring compatibility with silicon products made by other companies after the transaction’s completion.
Open platform access will persist across diverse hardware options
Hugging Face was founded in 2016 by Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond, and Thomas Wolf. Over time, the company expanded from providing software tools into hosting models, datasets, applications, and cloud-based AI development services. In August 2023, Hugging Face achieved a valuation of $4.5 billion after raising $235 million in funding. Nvidia had an existing collaborative relationship with the company prior to the acquisition agreement, which included projects linking 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 indicates that the acquisition is still pending and lists the conditions that must be met before closing, including regulatory approvals and customary closing procedures. Nvidia also detailed ongoing commitments for Hugging Face after the deal, such as continued access to models and datasets, multi-cloud support, and hardware compatibility with semiconductor companies other than Nvidia.
Approval from regulators still needed for completion
Nvidia already offers a large collection of AI resources via the Hugging Face platform, including over 500 published models and more than 250 open datasets. The company also supplies software libraries and development tools that users can adapt for their own projects. Hugging Face serves a broad range of clients, from companies and researchers to independent developers, helping them with activities such as model discovery, performance evaluation, system customization, and AI application deployment.
Until all conditions and approvals are met, the Nvidia acquisition of Hugging Face will remain incomplete. Nvidia currently expects the $12.93 billion deal to close during the first half of 2027. Under the announced commitments, Hugging Face will continue to support multiple clouds, frameworks, inference providers, and computing platforms. Developers will also retain access to hardware options beyond Nvidia products. Until the deal is finalized, both Nvidia and Hugging Face will operate as separate entities under the terms of their agreement.