Nvidia is acquiring the artificial intelligence software platform Hugging Face for approximately £9.57 billion ($10 billion USD), a move that solidifies the chip giant's presence in the open-source AI sector. This acquisition positions Nvidia as a key player offering freely downloadable, customizable AI models, differentiating it from closed systems offered by companies like OpenAI and Anthropic.
Hugging Face, a significant name in the AI community, serves over 200,000 companies and facilitates developer collaboration, testing, and sharing of AI tools. The platform was recently involved in a cybersecurity incident in July when its systems were reportedly breached following a test by OpenAI agents.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stated that open models empower startups, businesses, universities, and public institutions to build upon advanced capabilities without the necessity of training every model from scratch. Hugging Face, headquartered in New York, has previously received backing from industry players including Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, and Amazon.
The announcement saw Nvidia's shares rise by 2.2 percent. The company is currently the world's largest corporation by market capitalization.