Toward the end of last year, the chip industry behemoth Nvidia dispatched a letter of intent, proposing a $500 million investment in the AI startup Hugging Face. However, this offer was declined by Hugging Face. Had the deal gone through, Hugging Face's valuation would have soared to $7 billion. Hugging Face clarified that it was wary of having a single, dominant investor that could potentially sway the company's decision-making processes.

Hugging Face operates a platform that serves as a hub for a vast array of publicly accessible AI models and datasets. The company is deeply committed to advancing 'open-source' models, a stance that starkly contrasts with Silicon Valley's prevalent 'closed-source' approach.

Embracing a 'freemium' business model, Hugging Face achieved profitability in 2025. Nevertheless, it faced losses in the first quarter of this year, largely due to its investments in datasets. To date, the company has secured a total of $400 million in funding and still has half of these funds readily available.

In 2022, Hugging Face introduced a multilingual AI model and subsequently withdrew from the realm of self-developed models. Instead, it redirected its focus to other areas and acquired a robotics company. Its distinctive corporate structure is in harmony with decentralized principles. However, some former employees have reported feeling sidelined in major decision-making processes. In recent months, a number of employees have departed, citing a misalignment between their work and the company's strategic priorities.

Although Hugging Face offers researchers salaries that are lower than those offered by tech giants, it compensates by providing them with a clear sense of purpose and the freedom to openly discuss their work. This approach has proven attractive to researchers who subscribe to an 'anti-Silicon Valley' philosophy.