Nvidia licenses Groq technologies and strengthens top management team

Nvidia continues its active expansion in the artificial intelligence market. The corporation has entered into an agreement to license Groq chip technology. At the same time, Nvidia is hiring key startup executives, including its CEO.

No-takeover deal: Big Tech's new strategy

The agreement fits into the trend of recent years, writes xrust. The biggest tech companies prefer to gain access to technology and talent without going through a full acquisition. This approach allows you to bypass antitrust risks and speed up the integration of developments.

What Groq does

Groq specializes in AI inference. This is the stage in which already trained models respond to user requests.
Although Nvidia dominates in training AI models, there is much more competition in the inference space.

Competition in the inference market

In this segment, Nvidia is opposed by:

• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
• startups Groq and Cerebras Systems

All of them are trying to take a share of the high-performance AI computing market.

License terms and personnel transitions

Groq announced that Nvidia has received a non-exclusive license for its technology.
Going to Nvidia:

• Jonathan Ross — founder of Groq and ex-head of Google AI chips
• company president Sunny Madra
• part of the engineering team

Financial details and purchase rumors

The financial terms of the deal are not officially disclosed.
Previously, the media reported about the possible purchase of Groq for $20 billion, but both companies refused to comment on this information.

Groq remains an independent company

On the official blog, Groq stated:

• the company will continue to operate independently
• Simon Edwards has become the new CEO
• Groq's cloud business remains intact

Similar deals in the AI industry

The market has already seen similar agreements:

• Microsoft Inks $650 Million Licensing Deal
• Meta Spends $15 Billion to Hire Head of Scale AI
• Amazon Hires Adept AI Founders

Groq's Technological Advantage

Groq uses on-board SRAM instead of external high-speed memory memory.
Advantages of the approach:

• no memory shortage
• faster responses from chatbots
• high efficiency of inference

Disadvantage — limited size of serviced AI models.

The main competitor is Cerebras Systems

Groq's main competitor remains Cerebras Systems. The company is planning an IPO next year. Both companies also signed major contracts in the Middle East.

Xrust Nvidia licenses Groq technology and strengthens top management team