Hugging Face built a $4.5 billion empire on free AI models. Now Nvidia is buying it for $12.9 billion

Nvidia agreed to acquire Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, valuing the company at about 86 times its $150 million annual revenue and nearly triple its 2023 $4.5 billion valuation. Hugging Face, known for hosting over 3 million open-source LLMs, has expanded into robotics with the Reachy Mini kit and an enterprise storage business, while also acquiring French robotics startup Pollen Robotics.