tech
After Nvidia's $20B not-acqui-hire, AI chip startup Groq reportedly raising $650M
Chipmaker Groq is looking to raise $650 million in internal funding as it pivots from hardware to focus more on AI inference, the process of refining the way AI models respond to prompted requests, per Axios.
TL;DR
- Groq is looking to raise $650 million in new funding from existing investors.
- The company is focusing on its inference neocloud business, which uses its homegrown AI chip and systems.
- In December, Groq had a $20 billion agreement with Nvidia that was described as a not-an-acquisition.
- This deal with Nvidia resulted in the departure of some Groq employees to Nvidia and licensed Groq's hardware technology.
- The funding will support the growth of Groq's inference cloud business, which hosts inference-hungry apps.
- Inference is the processing that occurs after an AI prompt and is a key need in the AI world.
- Groq's interim leadership includes CEO Adam Winter and CFO Matt Eng.
- Disruptive and Infinitium have committed to filling the funding round if other investors do not take their pro-rata shares.