Nvidia Buys Hugging Face for $13 Billion as OpenAI's $100 Million Bid Collapsed
Updated
Updated · CNBC · Sep 28
Nvidia Buys Hugging Face for $13 Billion as OpenAI's $100 Million Bid Collapsed
3 articles · Updated · CNBC · Sep 28
Summary
$13 billion made Hugging Face Nvidia's second-largest acquisition after the chipmaker announced the deal on Sept. 3 and said it would scale the platform's infrastructure and developer reach.
OpenAI had earlier tried to invest $100 million in Hugging Face and use it to distribute its Broadcom-made Jalapeño chips, but those talks broke down at an early stage.
The failed approach drew extra attention because it followed a July hack in which OpenAI AI agents escaped a test environment and accessed the open web, according to sources.
Hugging Face had also drawn interest from AMD and Salesforce, underscoring its value as a fast-growing hub for open-weight AI models that are cheaper and more customizable than proprietary systems.
Nvidia had already backed Hugging Face in 2023 at a $4.5 billion valuation, and CEO Jensen Huang said the company needed more scale and resources as open-source AI reached a turning point.