NVIDIA agrees to buy Hugging Face
It's Thursday, September third. NVIDIA agrees to buy Hugging Face, the library where developers download open AI models. Higgsfield, an AI video company, raises four hundred million dollars at a five point four billion dollar valuation. NVIDIA invests three and a half billion dollars in MediaTek, a chip designer.
NVIDIA signed to buy Hugging Face on September 2
On September second, NVIDIA signed to acquire Hugging Face. About eleven point nine billion dollars goes to Hugging Face stockholders, approximate and adjustable. Up to about one billion dollars is equity retention, stock meant to keep the people at Hugging Face working at NVIDIA after the sale. NVIDIA expects the deal to close in the first half of twenty twenty-seven, if regulators clear it. NVIDIA filed an 8-K the next morning. An 8-K is the short notice a public company files with the US markets regulator when something important happens.
The 8-K pays about $11.9 billion to Hugging Face stockholders
Jensen Huang's spoken figure is twelve billion nine hundred thirty million three hundred thousand dollars. Clément Delangue, chief executive of Hugging Face, posted that same figure. Last month NVIDIA paid six billion dollars to license the model training setup at Poolside, and left Poolside as its own company. This filing buys Hugging Face. This 8-K lists only the cover page data format.
Hugging Face is the library for open models
Hugging Face is the default library for open models, models whose files anyone can download and run. The NVIDIA blog says more than eighteen million developers, more than three million models, five hundred thousand datasets, one million applications, and more than two hundred thousand companies on that platform. Those counts are NVIDIA claims. The job is the point. This is where the industry goes to fetch a model.
Owning Hugging Face owns the path from model to chip
Whoever owns the Hugging Face library sits on the path from model to chip. A developer opens Hugging Face, chooses a model, downloads the files, and runs those files on a chip in a cloud. Hugging Face sits in the middle of that trip. NVIDIA sells the chips. Paying about eleven point nine billion dollars, plus up to one billion dollars in retention, is paying to own that starting place.
NVIDIA filed a promise that other chipmakers stay on Hugging Face
NVIDIA committed, in the 8-K, to keep the Hugging Face platform open in line with existing Hugging Face practices. People can still upload and download the models and datasets they choose. Hugging Face will still support other chipmakers. Jensen Huang's blog says NVIDIA compute will not be required to build on or deploy through Hugging Face. That is a sentence NVIDIA filed. The same 8-K says limits on models that originated in China could hit the Hugging Face platform.
$11.9 billion to Hugging Face stockholders, $400 million into Higgsfield
About eleven point nine billion dollars to Hugging Face stockholders. Up to one billion dollars in equity retention. Twelve billion nine hundred thirty million three hundred thousand dollars, the headline Jensen Huang and the chief executive of Hugging Face both used. First half of twenty twenty-seven, expected close. Four hundred million dollars into Higgsfield at a five point four billion dollar valuation. Three and a half billion dollars of NVIDIA convertible bonds in MediaTek, loans that can turn into MediaTek stock. The last company buy NVIDIA named on its own newsroom was Mellanox, about six point nine billion dollars, in March twenty nineteen.
Higgsfield raises $400 million at a $5.4 billion valuation
Higgsfield, the AI video company, raised four hundred million dollars at a five point four billion dollar valuation. DST Global, an investment firm, led the round. The same company wire names the prior Higgsfield mark at one point three billion dollars. Higgsfield claims seven hundred million dollars a year in revenue, thirty million users, and work for three hundred and ninety of the Fortune 500, the five hundred largest US companies. Those three are claims from Higgsfield.
NVIDIA puts $3.5 billion into MediaTek as convertible bonds
On August thirty-first, the NVIDIA newsroom said NVIDIA invested three and a half billion dollars in convertible bonds issued by MediaTek. The partnership spans AI factories, PCs, and cars. MediaTek will use the rack wiring NVIDIA sells for custom chips at MediaTek.
NVIDIA filed that limits on China-origin models could hit Hugging Face
NVIDIA wrote that many of the most popular open models in the world originated in China. NVIDIA wrote that limits on supporting models from any region, including China, could hit the Hugging Face platform. Once NVIDIA owns Hugging Face, that distribution path is a regulatory surface for NVIDIA. The first half of twenty twenty-seven close is the test of the open platform sentence NVIDIA filed.
Higgsfield just printed a $5.4 billion valuation on its own wire
File Higgsfield. An AI video company that just printed a five point four billion dollar mark on its own company wire.
Sources
NVIDIA Form 8-K, filed September third, for the September second agreement. Jensen Huang's NVIDIA blog, September third. The first party post from Clément Delangue the same day. The Higgsfield company wire, August seventeenth. The NVIDIA newsroom post on MediaTek, August thirty-first. The NVIDIA newsroom post on Mellanox, March twenty nineteen. Back Friday.
