The AI industry’s next blockbuster acquisition may not be another model maker.<\/p>\n
Hugging Face,<\/a> whose platform helps developers<\/a> discover, share, and build AI models, has been exploring a sale that could value the company at $13 billion or more.<\/p>\n The startup has been working with a bank to evaluate bidders’ interest, and no deal has been reached yet, according to people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n Hugging Face is a platform where developers publish, share, and download various AI models. The talks show how valuable AI developer platforms have become as the industry matures. The startup was last valued at $4.5 billion in 2023, per PitchBook. Investors include Lux Capital, Addition, and Salesforce Ventures.<\/p>\n Hugging Face was founded in 2016 by French entrepreneurs Cl\u00e9ment Delangue, Julien Chaumond, and Thomas Wolf.<\/p>\n Rather than competing to build the next frontier model, companies like Hugging Face have become essential for developers who build with AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and others.<\/p>\n Following Stripe’s agreement to buy <\/a>AI model marketplace startup <\/a>OpenRouter<\/a> for around $8 billion, interest in Hugging Face suggests investors are increasingly willing to pay premium prices for companies at the center of the AI ecosystem even if they aren’t building the models themselves.<\/p>\n