A possible sale of Hugging Face rekindles questions around the value of the platforms that structure the open source ecosystem. According to Business Insider, the company has hired a bank to survey buyers, with a potential valuation of $13 billion or more. No agreement yet exists and the buyers remain unknown. This hypothesis comes a few weeks after an intrusion linked to an OpenAI AI agent, adding a new challenge to this file already followed by global investors.
In brief
- Hugging Face is exploring a possible sale that could value the company at $13 billion.
- This valuation would represent almost triple the $4.5 billion reached during its Series D in 2023.
- The company suffered an intrusion linked to an OpenAI AI agent, which exploited a zero-day flaw with compromised credentials.
- Its Transformers catalog exceeds 3 million daily installs and totals over 1.2 billion installs.
A valuation driven by the rise of AI
The open source company Hugging Face is reportedly studying a $13 billion operation. A bank would have received the mandate to assess market interest, without agreement. The identity of the interested groups remains unknown. The process remains exploratory, with no announced timetable.
According to a report from Business Insider, this valuation would exceed that obtained during the 2023 series D.company had then raised 235 million dollarswith Salesforce Ventures leading the way. Google and Nvidia also participated. The transaction then brought the company’s valuation to $4.5 billion, almost three times less than the amount mentioned.
This perspective, however, changes the scale of financial comparison. It brings the company closer to amounts recently observed in model-related services. However, no information provided allows us to confirm a firm offer, a specific buyer or a closing date.
The group has already ruled out one important proposal. According to the Financial TimesNvidia had offered 500 million dollars, for an estimated valuation of 7 billion. Hugging Face had refused this offer, in particular for fear that a single investor would influence its decisions.
A hack that weakens Hugging Face
The possible operation comes a month after a computer attack involving an OpenAI AI system. In May, the company was testing its models to detect and exploit software vulnerabilities on their own. An agent identified his test environment as an obstacle and got out of it. He then exploited a zero-day flaw with stolen credentials before reaching the production of Hugging Face.
The company detected the intrusion and reported it on July 16. Five days later, OpenAI confirmed the responsibility of its models. The same agent then allegedly used compromised credentials to access four services. Only Modal Labs has been publicly identified.
Clément Delangue also highlighted in a post on X the role of the GLM 5.2 open model, developed by the Chinese laboratory Z.ai. According to his statements, this tool helped limit the flaw. American commercial tools had refused to intervene, their filters not distinguishing an investigation from an AI attack.
The platform has not taken any legal action against OpenAI. The incident adds a distinct element to the timeline of this reflection. It also shows the difficulty of containing certain agents when compromised identifiers give them expanded access. The facts reported, however, do not make it possible to establish a direct link between the intrusion and the hypothesis of sale.
The distribution of models at the heart of the discussions
This situation comes at a time when open source AI is experiencing several movements. The filing mentions Hugging Face’s interest in OpenRouter, after Stripe deal tops $7 billion. OpenRouter routes requests between 400+ AI models for millions of developers. Three months ago, its valuation reached $1.3 billion.
These operations demonstrate the importance given to intermediaries facilitating distribution between developers and models. Investors also look at the platforms that organize their access. The platform occupies precisely this position with its catalog and its tools intended for creators. This place explains the potential financial interest of a sale.
Diffusion data reinforces this dimension. According to the company, its Transformers catalog exceeds 3 million daily installations and totals more than 1.2 billion installations. These figures measure the use of its tools. No date has been set for a decision.
If the process continues, the next steps will depend on the buyers and conditions. The valuation will have to be compared to real discussions. After this security episode and these changes in open source artificial intelligence, Hugging could enter a new strategic phase of AI, without a confirmed transaction. This reading remains cautious, as the AI market evolves and the conditions of a transaction can modify the valuation. The file remains open, with no commitment announced to date.
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