Nvidia is officially acquiring Hugging Face, the developer platform, for $12.93 billion, as it invests in the prospect of open AI models.

Nvidia has seen a prolific rise as the premier chip maker of the AI revolution. While even its own customers try to develop their own chips to decrease their reliance on the chipmaker, it appears primed to expand its circle.

The acquisition will provide Nvidia access to Hugging Face’s platform which developers use to test and share tools, which could help it gain insight and data critical to boosting its own technology.

The buyout is especially valuable considering the surging demand for open-weight models as AI prices skyrocket and firms look to alternatives to the mainstream AI models available.

It has become especially pertinent as Chinese firms has managed to corner the open source market so far.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said that “Hugging Face will remain an open platform for the entire AI ecosystem.”

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He said that Nvidia’s chips will not have to build or or deploy via Hugging Face.

Hugging Face investors will be paid $11.9bn by Nvidia, which will also offer an equity-based retention programme for employees who join Nvidia of up to £1bn.