Day: 1 September 2026

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Microduck AI Arrives from Hugging Face

AI Microduck from Hugging Face

It may look like a cute toy duck, but Hugging Face’s new Microduck is a fascinating example of how interconnected the modern technology industry has become.

The 25cm-tall robot has been developed by Pollen Robotics, the French robotics company acquired by Hugging Face in 2025.

Beneath its quirky exterior is a Chinese-made Rockchip RK3566 processor based on ARM architecture, alongside cameras, LiDAR, motion sensors, microphones and wireless connectivity.

The software story is equally international. Microduck is designed around open-source technology, allowing developers to programme, train and teach it new behaviours using Hugging Face’s robotics ecosystem and reinforcement learning tools.

Global design

That makes Microduck more than an amusing little robot. It is a miniature demonstration of the global supply chain behind modern AI: French engineering, Chinese semiconductor manufacturing, British-designed ARM technology and internationally developed open-source software coming together in one product.

Priced at $399, Microduck is intended to make physical AI more accessible to developers, researchers and enthusiasts. Hugging Face says it received more than $2.6 million in orders during the first 24 hours.

The duck may be French-designed, Chinese-powered and ARM-based — but its ambition is truly global.

What will Nvidia think if they complete their reported potential acquisition of Hugging Face?

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Jackson Hole: U.S. Rate Hike Fears Return

The 2026 annual Jackson Hole meeting has delivered a clear warning to financial markets: U.S. interest rates may not be heading lower… just yet.

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh used his first major Jackson Hole speech to stress that inflation remains too high and that recent improvements have not been enough to convince policymakers that price pressures are returning sustainably towards the Fed’s 2% target.

Warsh also suggested that current financial conditions are not sufficiently restrictive, raising the possibility that further interest-rate increases could be required.

Interest rate increase more likely?

Markets reacted quickly, with the probability of a September 2026 rate rise climbing to around 60%, compared with roughly 35% before his speech.

The message is particularly significant because investors had been hoping for lower borrowing costs. Instead, attention has shifted towards whether stubborn U.S. inflation will force the Fed to tighten policy again.

With the September 2026 meeting approaching, upcoming inflation and employment figures could prove crucial in determining the next move.

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Nvidia Reportedly Agrees $12.9 Billion Deal for Hugging Face

Nvidia AI deal

Nvidia is reportedly set to acquire artificial intelligence platform Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, in a deal that would give the world’s leading AI chipmaker a powerful position in the rapidly expanding open-source AI market.

The reported transaction, first revealed by The Information and subsequently reported by Reuters, would rank among Nvidia’s largest acquisitions.

However, there was still some uncertainty over whether a definitive agreement had been formally signed, with neither Nvidia nor Hugging Face initially confirming the deal publicly.

Open-source AI

Hugging Face has become one of the most important platforms in the AI industry, acting as a vast repository where developers can share, download and work with open-source AI models, datasets and software. It also provides cloud-based services for running and deploying AI applications.

For Nvidia, the attraction goes well beyond simply acquiring another technology company. Open-source AI is becoming increasingly important as developers look for alternatives to the powerful but largely closed systems operated by companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic.

That matters to Nvidia because many of those companies are also developing their own AI chips, potentially threatening Nvidia’s extraordinary dominance of the AI hardware market.

Strength

Owning Hugging Face could therefore help Nvidia strengthen its influence across both the software and hardware sides of the AI ecosystem.

The price tag is eye-catching. Hugging Face was valued at $4.5 billion following a 2023 funding round and was reportedly generating annualised revenue of around $150 million. At $12.9 billion, Nvidia would therefore be paying roughly 86 times that revenue figure.

Premium

Yet Nvidia clearly appears willing to pay a premium for strategic control. The acquisition would give Jensen Huang’s company a significant foothold in open-source AI while potentially creating another route into cloud computing and AI services.

If completed, the deal would send a powerful message: Nvidia is no longer simply selling the picks and shovels of the AI revolution — it wants a much bigger stake in the mine itself.

Hugging Face was founded in 2016, so as of August 2026 it is 10 years old.

It was originally created as a chatbot company by Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond and Thomas Wolf, before evolving into the major open-source AI platform it is today.

Quite remarkable, really — a 10-year-old company potentially being worth nearly $13 billion.