Nvidia Acquires Hugging Face (read more here) for $12.9 Billion
Thomas Wolf (Co-founder Hugging Face) and Anna Tutova (Founder AI Crypto Minds)
Credit: Anna Tutova
Thomas Wolf, has spent a decade advocating for the importance of
open-source AI. On August 27, 2026, the market validated his efforts as Nvidia agreed to acquire Hugging Face, the open-source AI ecosystem pioneer, for $12.9 billion.
This acquisition is one of Nvidia’s largest, valued at approximately 86 times Hugging Face’s annual revenue and nearly triple its 2023 valuation. At Nvidia’s current pace, this acquisition amounts to about thirteen days’ worth of sales.
Nvidia, seeking control over the distribution layer for open-source AI, made the substantial investment. The move comes despite Hugging Face previously turning down a $500 million investment from Nvidia in favor of independence.
From Software to Hardware and Beyond
Wolf, who built his reputation on promoting open-source practices, never planned to sell hardware directly. Hugging Face started as a platform for sharing free AI models, but Wolf followed the talent and problems he wanted to solve. This led to the creation of their first robot kit, Reachy Mini, priced between $300 and $500.
The company has sold over 10,000 units of the initial model launched last year, with projections of 20,000 sales in 2026. Wolf expresses his enthusiasm for the upcoming Reachy Mini 2.0.
Hugging Face’s transformation goes beyond robotics; they’re building an integrated AI platform encompassing frontier models, robotics, and enterprise storage solutions gaining significant traction.