Nvidia reported $96.2 billion in quarterly revenue as The Information said the company was in talks to acquire Hugging Face for $12.9 billion.
Neither company had confirmed the talks at recording time, but owning the central hub where developers find and share open AI models would move Nvidia beyond chips and cloud infrastructure into software, distribution, and community
Nvidia delivered another extraordinary quarter, reporting $96.2 billion in revenue, more than double the prior year's figure, and $59.7 billion in net income. The company projected roughly $108 billion in revenue for the current quarter as demand for AI infrastructure continued to outrun its ability to supply it.
At the same time, The Information reported that Nvidia was in talks to acquire Hugging Face for $12.9 billion. Neither company had confirmed the talks at the time of recording Episode 235 of The Artificial Intelligence Show, and the terms could still change. Hugging Face is a central hub where developers find, share, test, and use open-weight AI models. Open-weight model files can be downloaded and run outside a closed provider's service.
The reported price under discussion is striking because Hugging Face was generating about $150 million in annualized revenue. At roughly 80 times forward revenue, Nvidia would be offering about $80 in purchase price for every $1 of Hugging Face's annualized revenue.
SmarterX founder and CEO Paul Roetzer discussed what the quarter and reported talks mean, on Episode 235 of The Artificial Intelligence Show.
$96.2 billion - Nvidia quarterly revenue
$59.7 billion - Nvidia quarterly net income
$12.9 billion - Reported potential Hugging Face purchase price
$150 million - Hugging Face annualized revenue
About 80x - Approximate forward revenue multiple
The quarter is a measure of the wider AI buildout. Nvidia's results matter beyond one company's earnings because its chips power much of the training and day-to-day operation of modern AI. A quarterly report from Nvidia is "a primary signal as to whether the AI growth curve is declining, maintaining, or rising," says Roetzer. This quarter points upward.
"There's no lack of demand for their AI factories, which enable them to power the chips."
— Paul Roetzer, founder and CEO of SmarterX, Episode 235 of The Artificial Intelligence Show
Open models widen Nvidia's path to demand. OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google use Nvidia hardware, while open-weights models can be adapted and run by many developers and organizations. Moving further into that open ecosystem would put Nvidia closer to the software, distribution, and community layer where many AI projects begin. "It seems like they're just directly coming after their biggest customers," Roetzer says.
Hugging Face sits where open-model choices get made. It is the place many developers and research teams use to find models, datasets, and evaluation tools. Ownership would give Nvidia a direct position in that flow. "NVIDIA wins either way," Roetzer says, because open and closed models still need chips to train and run. The reported price reflects how much that position could be worth.
Nvidia's most important advantage is the breadth of AI demand it serves. Its chips support the training and operation of open and closed models alike. Hugging Face would move the company closer to the developers and research teams choosing open models without requiring Nvidia to own every model itself.
At roughly 80 times annualized revenue, Nvidia would be paying for much more than Hugging Face's current sales. The premium price points to the strategic value of moving beyond hardware and cloud infrastructure into open-model software and distribution. More activity across that ecosystem creates more opportunities for Nvidia to supply the computing power underneath it.
Official confirmation. The talks and $12.9 billion price remained reported and unconfirmed as of the recording of Episode 235 of The Artificial Intelligence Show. A company announcement would establish whether the discussions produce a deal and reveal terms that reporting alone cannot settle.
Open-model momentum will show the value of broader distribution. If the talks produce a deal, pay attention to whether Nvidia becomes more visible across Hugging Face's software and community. Growth in open or closed model demand still creates more need for the chips and AI infrastructure Nvidia sells.
Only 25% of organizations have reached the Scaling phase of AI adoption, according to the 2026 State of AI for Business Report. The largest share, 47%, is still Piloting. Nvidia's quarter shows how quickly the supply of AI computing is growing, while the adoption data shows how far most companies still have to go before they use that infrastructure across the business.
The full report, based on more than 2,100 responses from professionals across roles, functions, and industries, benchmarks organizational adoption, governance, training, and tooling. It helps leaders see whether their AI efforts are becoming a scaled capability or remain a collection of pilots. Read the full report →