Why Nvidia is Ready to Pay $13B for Hugging Face l Equity

Earlier this week, Meta agreed to pay $18 billion and make sweeping changes to how minors access its social networks to settle a lawsuit brought by 29 states. But the eye-popping settlement figure wasn’t what caught the attention of the Equity podcast team. Instead, it was what Meta did next. The social media giant sent an open letter to TikTok and YouTube asking the companies to join it in setting industry-wide standards for teens, including daily time limits, blocking access to apps at night, and restricting notifications during school hours.

But will these other companies follow? The Equity team doesn’t think they will.

On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan, Kirsten Korosec, and Sean O’Kane dig into the Meta settlement, rising investor interest in robotics startups, and the reported Nvidia and Hugging Face deal that’s in the works.

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.

Chapters:
00:00 — Meta’s $18B Teen Safety Settlement
03:39 — Will Meta’s New Rules Actually Protect Teens?
08:55 — The Problem With Age Verification
11:11 — Robots Are Chasing Their ChatGPT Moment
16:22 — The Race to Build Smarter Robot Brains
19:34 — What Happens When Robots Work Alongside Humans?
21:41 — Waymo and Zoox Test Drivers Are Getting Hurt
23:38 — Gatik Raises $200M for Driverless Trucks
26:38 — Could Nvidia Buy Hugging Face for $13B?
29:18 — Why AI Infrastructure Is Becoming an Acquisition Target