Nvidia has publicly committed to keeping Hugging Face open following its approximately $12.9 billion acquisition of the AI model hosting platform. The announcement addresses the single biggest question hanging over the deal since it was revealed in late August: whether the world’s most valuable chipmaker would turn a community-driven resource into a proprietary moat.
The answer, at least for now, is no. Nvidia says Hugging Face will continue operating as an open platform, preserving access for the millions of developers and researchers who rely on it.
What Nvidia is actually buying
Hugging Face isn’t just another AI startup. It’s closer to the GitHub of machine learning, a central hub where researchers, startups, and major tech companies publish, share, and collaborate on AI models. At the time of the acquisition, the platform hosted roughly 2.96 million model repositories.
For Nvidia, the acquisition represents its largest deal in the AI sector. The price tag of $12.9 billion reflects just how critical model infrastructure has become in the AI arms race.
The relationship between the two companies didn’t start with this deal. Nvidia participated in a $235 million funding round for Hugging Face back in 2023. Since then, the partnership deepened through integrations like LeRobot and Training Cluster as a Service, both designed to connect Hugging Face’s developer community more directly with Nvidia’s computing infrastructure.
Nvidia had also been one of the platform’s most prolific contributors. Prior to the acquisition, the company had uploaded more than 650 open models and 250 datasets to Hugging Face, spanning projects like Nemotron, Cosmos, and Isaac GR00T.
The openness question
Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue has been vocal about the importance of openness in AI development. He has emphasized that open models serve as essential catalysts for innovation, making AI more accessible and accountable. That philosophy apparently survived the acquisition negotiations intact.
Industry analysts have argued that preserving the platform’s neutrality post-acquisition actually strengthens Nvidia’s position, with maintaining Hugging Face’s openness seen as key to sustaining developer engagement and ecosystem growth.
Security as a selling point
The acquisition also comes with a notable security dimension. In July 2026, a security incident involving the platform prompted Nvidia and Hugging Face to co-found the Open Secure AI Alliance. The initiative is aimed at strengthening security practices across the open AI model ecosystem.
What this means for the AI landscape
The $12.9 billion price tag sets a new benchmark for how the market values AI infrastructure platforms. Hugging Face’s last known private valuation was tied to that $235 million round in 2023, which valued the company at around $4.5 billion.