Nvidia to Acquire Hugging Face for $12.9 Billion to Secure Dominant Position in AI Model Repository Market
Nvidia confirmed its plan to acquire the New York-based startup Hugging Face for $12.9 billion. The deal, which is expected to close next year, positions the dominant AI-chip company as the owner of a leading platform for building, sharing, and running open-source and open-weight AI models. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stated that half of the company's business is largely driven by open models, and the company is currently the largest contributor of open models in the world. By acquiring Hugging Face, Nvidia aims to capture more of the AI market by controlling the repository where developers hang out. The platform currently hosts over 3 million models and 500,000 datasets, with more than 18 million builders using the platform today. Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue noted that the company aims to reach 100 million AI builders in the next few years. The acquisition is viewed as a strategic move to ensure that Nvidia's hardware and software remain central to the AI ecosystem. While the deal faces potential antitrust scrutiny, the administration announced that the acquisition will proceed provided it meets all regulatory requirements.
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Why Nvidia wants Hugging Face to keep helping its rivals: Chart of the Day
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Why Nvidia's 'defensive move' to acquire Hugging Face is about much more than chips
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Jensen's purchase of a new toy could reshape the entire AI industry
The Register