Nvidia in talks to acquire Hugging Face for over $13 billion; Microsoft met with Hugging Face but negotiations have halted
huggingface microsoft nvidia
| Source: Techmeme | Original article
Nvidia is in talks to buy Hugging Face for over $13 billion, while Microsoft’s earlier discussions with the AI startup have stalled.
Nvidia has entered exclusive talks to buy Hugging Face for a price north of $13 billion, according to Business Insider. The chip maker, which has been deepening its AI‑focused dealmaking, is reportedly the lead suitor, while Microsoft’s recent meeting with the model‑hub startup has not progressed into an active negotiation.
The talks come after Hugging Face turned down a prior $500 million investment from Nvidia that would have placed the company’s valuation at roughly $7 billion. A new bid at more than $13 billion would nearly triple the $4.5 billion valuation attached to its 2023 Series D round, which raised $235 million from a consortium that included Salesforce Ventures, Google, Amazon, Intel and others. The startup has hired an investment bank to field interest, signalling that a sale is being seriously evaluated despite founder concerns about preserving the open‑source ethos that underpins the platform.
Why it matters: A Nvidia‑Hugging Face combination would give the chip giant direct control over one of the most widely used repositories for large language models, potentially tightening its grip on the AI supply chain and influencing the pricing and availability of GPU‑accelerated training. For Microsoft, the stalled talks underscore its broader strategy of embedding AI services across its cloud and productivity suites, but also highlight the competitive pressure from Nvidia’s aggressive acquisition push.
What to watch next: Analysts will be looking for any formal term sheet from Nvidia and for regulatory scrutiny given the size of the deal. Equally important will be signals from Hugging Face’s leadership about whether the community‑first mission can survive under new ownership, and whether other suitors—perhaps from the broader cloud ecosystem—enter the fray. As we reported on Aug 27, the Hugging Face incident raised questions about the platform’s governance; this acquisition talk could reshape that narrative entirely.
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