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Nvidia is planning to acquire Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, according to WebNovare, citing a person familiar with the transaction. The deal would give the world's leading AI chipmaker control of one of the most important platforms in the open-source artificial intelligence ecosystem and mark one of Nvidia's largest acquisitions to date.

Hugging Face has become a central destination for developers building and testing AI systems. Its enormous repository of pre-trained models, datasets, and development tools has frequently been compared to GitHub because of the role it plays in allowing developers to discover, share, and collaborate on technology.

The acquisition would significantly expand Nvidia's influence beyond the chips and computing infrastructure that currently power much of the AI industry. By bringing Hugging Face into its business, Nvidia would gain a powerful position in the rapidly growing market for open AI models and developer tools.

The timing is especially notable as some of Nvidia's largest customers, including OpenAI and Anthropic, explore developing their own custom chips. Those efforts could eventually reduce their reliance on Nvidia hardware, giving the company another incentive to expand its presence across other layers of the artificial intelligence ecosystem.

Hugging Face's platform could provide Nvidia with direct access to a vast community of researchers, software developers, startups, and enterprises experimenting with open-source AI. That developer ecosystem may become increasingly valuable as competition intensifies between companies offering proprietary models and those promoting more open alternatives.

The reported transaction also comes shortly after Nvidia delivered another blockbuster earnings report. The company reported $96.22 billion in quarterly revenue, more than doubling from the previous year, while projecting approximately 70% revenue growth for fiscal 2028 as demand for AI computing continues to exceed available supply.

Nvidia's willingness to pursue a multibillion-dollar acquisition despite its already dominant position reflects the company's confidence that artificial intelligence will continue expanding into new markets. Rather than relying solely on chip sales, Nvidia has increasingly invested in software, cloud infrastructure, startups, and other parts of the broader AI economy.

The $12.9 billion price tag would also represent a substantial increase over Hugging Face's previous valuation. The company was valued at approximately $4.5 billion in 2023, meaning the reported acquisition price would nearly triple its value in just a few years.

Meanwhile, Hugging Face continues to push beyond software and into physical AI. The company recently unveiled a compact robot called Microduck, a roughly $400 duck-like machine designed to move around, interact with its environment, and be customized using open-source software.

The unusual robot highlights Hugging Face's broader ambitions in robotics and embodied AI, where developers are increasingly applying artificial intelligence to machines that can interact with the physical world. Its combination of playful design and open-source technology reflects the company's effort to make robotics more accessible to developers and researchers.

If completed, Nvidia's acquisition of Hugging Face would bring together the dominant supplier of AI computing hardware with one of the largest communities for open-source AI development. As OpenAI, Anthropic, and other major players work to build more of their own infrastructure, the deal could help Nvidia secure a stronger foothold in the software and developer ecosystem that will shape the next phase of the AI industry.