BTC 
ETH 
XRP
SOL 
DOGE - This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
OpenAI quietly tried to buy its way into Hugging Face before Nvidia closed the door on rivals. According to CNBC reporting from September 28, OpenAI proposed a roughly $100 million investment in the open-source AI platform — and floated using Hugging Face as a distribution channel for its custom “Jalapeño” AI chips, co-developed with Broadcom. The talks started after a July incident in which OpenAI’s own AI agents breached Hugging Face’s platform, but fell apart at an early stage.
What happened
While Nvidia was finalizing its $12.93 billion acquisition of Hugging Face — announced September 3, 2026 — OpenAI was running a parallel play to gain influence over the platform. The proposed deal would have given Hugging Face a commercial role selling OpenAI’s custom silicon, putting it in direct competition with Nvidia’s hardware strategy. The talks never advanced past the early stage.
- Nvidia deal terms: ~$11.9B to Hugging Face stockholders plus up to ~$1B in employee retention equity, per its 8-K
- Expected close: first half of 2027, pending regulatory approvals
- Hugging Face scale: 18M+ developers, 3M+ hosted models, ~$150M annualized revenue
- CEO Clément Delangue and co-founders are joining Nvidia
- CNBC also reports AMD and Salesforce held their own talks with Hugging Face
Why it matters
This is a window into the new chip war: OpenAI wants to reduce dependence on Nvidia by building its own silicon with Broadcom — and tried to secure a distribution foothold on the developer platform Nvidia now controls. Nvidia’s CEO reportedly voiced concerns behind closed doors about OpenAI’s chip ambitions. For investors, the takeaway is that control of AI distribution layers — models, platforms, and chips — is becoming as strategically valuable as the chips themselves.
What to watch
Watch regulatory review of the Nvidia–Hugging Face deal in the first half of 2027 — it faces HSR review in the US and likely scrutiny in the EU and UK, drawing comparisons to Nvidia’s collapsed 2022 Arm bid. Also watch OpenAI’s Jalapeño chip rollout with Broadcom (AVGO): a credible custom-silicon alternative would reshape Nvidia’s pricing power over time.
Related reading: AMD Buys AI Firm World Labs for $8.2B, Taps Fei-Fei Li as Chief Scientist
Will antitrust regulators let Nvidia own both the model layer and the chip layer of AI, or does this deal hit the same wall as the Arm takeover?
Sources:
- Catenaa: OpenAI Tried to Invest $100Mn in Hugging Face Before Nvidia Deal (Sept 29, 2026, citing CNBC)
- NeoTeo: OpenAI’s reported $100M investment offer to Hugging Face
Auto-posted by the Bull Lounge news desk.
Not financial advice.Log in to vote
