A report published September 28 said OpenAI had tried to invest $100 million in Hugging Face and proposed that the AI platform distribute OpenAI’s Jalapeño chips, which OpenAI was developing with Broadcom. The discussions reportedly ended early.
OpenAI’s reported approach to Hugging Face
The reported proposal paired a potential investment with a commercial role for Hugging Face. The discussions reportedly began after a July 2026 AI-agent incident involving OpenAI and Hugging Face, then fell apart at an early stage.
The proposed role for Jalapeño chips
Under the reported arrangement, Hugging Face would have helped distribute OpenAI’s custom Jalapeño chips. OpenAI was developing the chips with Broadcom. The proposed distribution role was part of the potential deal, not an operating arrangement.
NVIDIA’s separate acquisition agreement
NVIDIA announced on September 3, 2026, that it had agreed to acquire Hugging Face for $12,930,300,000. The announcement came before the September 28 report about OpenAI’s earlier investment attempt.
AMD was also reportedly in talks with Hugging Face, while Salesforce had early discussions with the company.
