Hugging Face CEO pledges to defend open-source AI following Nvidia leadership shift

A leadership transition at Nvidia

Clément Delangue, the CEO of Hugging Face, expressed public disappointment regarding the departure of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Delangue described the news as a "really sad day" on the social media platform X. His comments suggest that Huang's leadership was a significant pillar for the open-source AI community.

Huang has been a vocal supporter of open-weight models, which are AI systems that anyone can download, inspect, and modify. These models are distinct from closed systems because they allow users to run the software on their own private infrastructure. This accessibility has made them a cornerstone of the current AI ecosystem.

The departure is notable because Huang was a primary driver of policies favoring open access. Many in the community worry about how Nvidia will navigate these values without his direct influence. Delangue's response serves as a public reassurance that Hugging Face intends to maintain its core identity despite the corporate shift.

The $12.9 billion acquisition

Nvidia recently announced its intention to acquire Hugging Face for $12.9 billion. This deal would represent the second-largest acquisition in the company's history, trailing only the $20 billion purchase of Groq’s assets in December 2025. The acquisition is currently scheduled to close in the first half of 2027.

While Nvidia has pledged to preserve open support for the platform, the deal raises questions about market control. By owning Hugging Face, Nvidia would control a major distribution channel for AI models. This move allows the company to influence how models are shared and utilized by developers worldwide.

The deal has already drawn regulatory scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice. Officials have begun making inquiries to determine how the merger will impact competition in the broader AI market. The government is looking to see if such a large acquisition will stifle innovation or create an unfair advantage for Nvidia.

Advocacy for open-weight models

Jensen Huang’s commitment to open-source AI was documented in a policy letter he published in July. That letter was signed by 25 different companies, including Meta, Microsoft, and IBM. The signatories urged the U.S. government to avoid over-restricting open-weight models because they make AI more adaptable and widely available.

Huang argued that these models are essential for strengthening competition and giving customers more control over their data. He noted that open models prevent users from being locked into a single provider's ecosystem. He also claimed that open-source tools accelerate innovation and help maintain cybersecurity and sovereignty.

Nvidia has already demonstrated this commitment through several recent investments and releases. The company recently entered a $6 billion deal with the startup Poolside to build out an open AI ecosystem in the United States. This initiative is specifically designed to help the country compete against Chinese companies like DeepSeek and Kimi K3.

Nvidia's expanding AI portfolio

Despite the leadership changes, Nvidia has continued to expand its offerings in the open-weight space. Last month, the company expanded its Nemotron family of models to include a large 120-billion-parameter model. This specific model is designed for enterprise agents and is intended to provide high-level capabilities for business use cases.

In addition to the large-scale models, Nvidia also released two new lightweight Bolt models. These models are optimized to run on standard PCs, making them accessible to a wider range of users who do not have access to massive computing clusters. This strategy aims to balance high-end performance with everyday usability.

Earlier this year, Huang promoted the revolutionary nature of open-source models during a keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show. He highlighted how these models have fundamentally changed the landscape of artificial intelligence. Hugging Face now finds itself at the center of this transition as it prepares for a new era of corporate ownership.