Inference chip startup Groq raises $650M to grow its cloud platform
Seven months after inking a $20 billion chip licensing deal with Nvidia Corp., Groq Inc. today announced that it has raised $650 million in funding.
Growth investment firm Disruptive and hedge fund Infinitum led the round.
Groq has developed a chip design called the LPU that’s specifically optimized for artificial intelligence inference workloads. In December, Nvidia agreed to license the technologies that underpin the processor. It also hired several key Groq employees, including its founding chief executive.
The transaction produced the Nvidia Grok LPU 3, an inference processor that the chip giant debuted in March. It ships as part of a rack-size, liquid-cooled appliance called the LPQ. The system includes 32 trays that each host three Groq LPU 3 units, one central processing unit and network equipment.
