AI chipmaker Groq raises $650M after Nvidia's $20B not-acqui-hire deal collapsed
Tags AI · Infrastructure
AI chip startup Groq confirmed a $650 million funding round led by Disruptive and Infinitum, six months after Nvidia's $20 billion not-acqui-hire deal absorbed much of its talent including founder/CEO Jonathan Ross. Groq is pivoting to an AI neocloud inference business, operating 13 data centers across North America, Europe, Middle East, and APAC serving 5M+ developers. The company hired new leadership including Alan Rice (COO, ex-xAI/Meta), Sinclair Schuller (CTO), and Rakesh Malhotra (CFO, ex-Microsoft). Groq was last valued at $6.9B after a $750M round in September 2025.
Technical significance
Groq's neocloud pivot demonstrates that AI inference infrastructure remains viable even when the underlying chip IP is absorbed by a larger player. The $650M raise signals investor appetite for independent inference providers that can offer model diversity beyond Nvidia's CUDA ecosystem.