Nvidia signs $20B licensing deal with AI chip startup Groq
Nvidia, the maker of artificial intelligence chips and the world’s most valuable public company, agreed to license technology from AI-chip startup Groq and hire its top executives in a deal announced on Wednesday.
Groq described the arrangement as a “nonexclusive licensing agreement.” Under the terms, Jonathan Ross, Groq’s founder and chief executive, along with other employees, will join Nvidia. The startup stated that what remains of Groq will continue operating as an independent company.
Groq’s chips were custom-built for running AI inference tasks. Inference involves processing AI models to generate outputs, such as responses from chatbots. The expansion of chatbots has driven increased demand for AI inference computing resources.
A person with knowledge of the deal said Nvidia became interested in incorporating some of Groq’s inference capabilities into its future products.