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NVIDIA in Talks to Buy Hugging Face for $13B, Microsoft Also Eyed Deal

NVIDIA is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire Hugging Face, the open-source AI platform, in a deal valued at over $13 billion (roughly 87.6 billion yuan). If finalized, it would rank among NVIDIA's largest acquisitions ever.

According to Business Insider, the two companies have been in deep discussions, though nothing is signed yet. Interestingly, Microsoft also had preliminary meetings with Hugging Face but didn't move forward to serious negotiations.

Hugging Face, often dubbed the 'GitHub of AI,' hosts millions of models and datasets that developers worldwide rely on. Its commercial growth has been impressive: annualized revenue jumped 50% in just two months, surpassing $150 million—nearly double the $70 million in 2023 and up from $130 million in 2024. The platform uses a freemium model, with a paid conversion rate of 3-5%, and has attracted over 2,000 enterprise customers.

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This isn't the first time NVIDIA has shown interest. Late last year, Hugging Face turned down a $500 million investment from NVIDIA, which valued the company at around $7 billion. The reason? They wanted to avoid a dominant investor influencing key decisions.

Now, with a potential acquisition on the table, the dynamics have shifted. For NVIDIA, buying Hugging Face would give it a massive community of developers and a treasure trove of AI models—assets that could strengthen its ecosystem beyond just chips. For Hugging Face, joining forces with NVIDIA might offer the resources to scale even faster, though it would mean giving up some independence.

But the deal isn't done yet. Talks could still fall through, and regulatory hurdles might loom. Still, the prospect of NVIDIA owning the go-to platform for AI models has the industry buzzing. What would this mean for the open-source community? Only time will tell.

Key Points

  • NVIDIA is in advanced talks to acquire Hugging Face for over $13 billion.
  • Microsoft also had early discussions but didn't proceed.
  • Hugging Face's annualized revenue has surpassed $150 million, with 2,000+ enterprise customers.
  • Hugging Face previously rejected a $500 million investment from NVIDIA to maintain independence.