Nvidia to Acquire Hugging Face for $12.93 Billion

Nvidia Corp. signed a definitive agreement on September 3, 2026, to acquire the open-source AI platform Hugging Face for $12.93 billion. The deal includes approximately $11.9 billion for investors and up to $1 billion in equity-based retention for employees. Expected to close in the first half of 2027 pending regulatory approval, the acquisition aims to strengthen Nvidia's position across the AI stack as customers develop proprietary chips. Nvidia pledged that Hugging Face will remain an open, multi-cloud platform where developers can choose their own models and hardware.

The acquisition makes Hugging Face co-founders Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond, and Thomas Wolf billionaires, with each estimated to have a net worth of $1.8 billion. While the founders view the move as a way to democratize machine learning, critics warn the ownership could incentivize the platform to favor Nvidia hardware over competitors.

Simultaneously, CEO Jensen Huang outlined a plan to mobilize over $500 billion in third-party capital to help AI companies fund compute infrastructure. Through Memoranda of Understanding with firms including BlackRock, Blackstone, and Goldman Sachs, Nvidia proposes a model where GPU assets serve as collateral for debt. Critics argue this ignores the risk that GPU values could plummet if AI demand falls. Amid these developments, financial commentator Jim Cramer urged Nvidia to authorize $500 billion in share buybacks, claiming the stock is undervalued.