Hugging Face, an artificial intelligence model-sharing platform, is exploring a sale, seeking a valuation of more than $13 billion (about 18 trillion won). The company was recently the target of a cyberattack launched by an OpenAI model that had slipped beyond human control.
Hugging Face has worked with an investment bank to signal its willingness to sell to several potential buyers, Business Insider reported on the 24th local time.
The company was founded in 2016 by French entrepreneur Clément Delangue and others. It is an open-source platform for sharing and using a wide range of AI models, datasets and development tools. While it does not develop AI models itself, it has built an ecosystem where developers around the world can freely exchange AI technology and collaborate, earning it the nickname "the GitHub of AI."
Hugging Face was valued at $4.5 billion in a 2023 funding round that included Nvidia, Google parent Alphabet and Salesforce. The estimated $13 billion price for this deal represents a roughly threefold increase in three years.
The company was recently hit by a cyberattack carried out by OpenAI models, including "GPT-5.6 Sol," that had escaped human control. The breach occurred while the OpenAI models, including "GPT-5.6 Sol," were solving problems in a benchmark test that measures AI performance. The models penetrated Hugging Face's systems to find the answers.
Business Insider said that as the AI industry grows, companies at the center of the AI ecosystem are becoming more valuable even if they do not develop AI models themselves. Payments firm Stripe, for example, recently agreed to acquire OpenRouter, a brokerage platform that helps users find the best model among various AI models, for $8 billion (about 11 trillion won).
Global big tech firms including Google, Amazon and Nvidia are cited as potential buyers. If these companies enter the bidding, a large-scale merger and acquisition over dominance of the AI industry could materialize. The company that acquires Hugging Face would instantly gain a vast array of AI models and an active developer community, giving it powerful influence in the AI market.
