Hugging Face CEO says 'planets aligned' for Nvidia deal, aims to reach 100M users

The CEO of Hugging Face expressed desire to expand the platform to 100 million users within the next few years, and Nvidia's backing could facilitate this ambition, despite the firm rejecting a $500 million investment offer from Nvidia last year. During a conference call to discuss Nvidia's $12.9 billion acquisition of Hugging Face, Clément Delangue stated that the partnership provides the company with the security to focus on long-term goals.

"With a big supporter like Nvidia, we can think about the next 10 years and really optimize for maximum impact in the community and in the field," he noted. Hugging Face currently hosts 18 million AI builders, and the objective is to increase this number to 100 million in the coming years, with Nvidia's support potentially accelerating this progress.

While GitHub, which Hugging Face is often compared to, has over 180 million developers, a previous caller highlighted that the company declined a substantial investment offer from Nvidia due to a desire to maintain independence. Delangue hinted that the decision to accept Nvidia's acquisition was influenced by recent alignment, attributing it to a perceived perfect match.

The companies also addressed antitrust concerns, asserting that the merger would be beneficial for the AI ecosystem. Delangue emphasized that Hugging Face would remain open and neutral, fostering healthy competition and ensuring model availability across various platforms and devices.