Nvidia to Acquire Hugging Face... "Open-Source AI Investment Also Under Discussion" (Comprehensive)

Open-Source AI Startup Led by Former OpenAI CTO
Nvidia Joins $6 Billion Fundraising Round
Nvidia Expands Its Influence by Growing the AI Ecosystem

There have been reports that Nvidia, which is acquiring the artificial intelligence (AI) platform Hugging Face, is also in discussions to invest in an open-source AI developer. This move is being interpreted as Nvidia's attempt to both secure core infrastructure for the AI ecosystem and expand its influence over the open AI community.

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, is attending an event held in Tokyo, Japan, on July 16. Photo by Reuters Yonhap News

According to IT media outlet The Information on September 3 (local time), Nvidia is reportedly considering a $2.5 billion investment (approximately 3.4 trillion won) in an open-source AI startup founded by a former Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of OpenAI.

A representative from Andreessen Horowitz, an existing investor, stated that Thinking Machines Lab, led by founder and CEO Mira Murati, is seeking to raise $500 million to $600 million at a pre-investment valuation of at least $40 billion (approximately 54.3 trillion won). Nvidia is expected to contribute about half of this round, which is being led by venture capital firm Accel Partners.

Previously, Nvidia announced it had agreed to acquire Hugging Face for $12.93 billion (approximately 17.5 trillion won). This deal also includes equity compensation of up to $1 billion for Hugging Face employees joining Nvidia.

Hugging Face is a platform that hosts over three million AI models, with more than 18 million users. It has served as a hub for the open-weight AI ecosystem. Nvidia emphasized that the acquisition would help protect the open-source AI developer community, where anyone can freely use and share software and data through Hugging Face.

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, stated on this day that "Open-weight helps broaden access to AI and ensures that AI leadership is distributed across companies, institutions, and communities," adding that Hugging Face will be maintained as an open platform.

Jensen Huang, CEO. Reuters Yonhap News

However, Bloomberg pointed out that there are concerns that this acquisition could result in excessive concentration of influence within the AI industry around Nvidia. If Nvidia, already the industry's largest company, also brings Hugging Face under its umbrella, its influence over the AI ecosystem as a whole could become even greater. Previously, Nvidia's attempted acquisition of Arm was blocked by regulators due to concerns over an excessive expansion of market dominance.

Notably, Nvidia has recently been pursuing a series of large-scale investments. In August, the company entered into a $6 billion software license agreement with AI startup Poolside and offered employment to its staff. It has also reportedly spent around $20 billion to acquire semiconductor startup Groq.

Jeff Pollard, an analyst at Forrester Research, explained, "With this acquisition, Nvidia has moved even closer to the entire AI supply chain," noting that "while this creates opportunities to enhance AI security, it may also allow Nvidia's influence to become more concentrated in key areas of the open AI ecosystem."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.