AI Chip Startup Groq Secures $640M for Nvidia Challenge
AI chip startup Groq has secured a significant $640 million in funding from prominent investors, including BlackRock, Neuberger Berman, Cisco, and the Samsung Catalyst Fund. This latest round, in 2024, follows a successful partnership with Bell Canada for national AI infrastructure and a collaboration with Meta to boost Llama 4 inference speed.
Founded in 2016 by former Google engineer Jonathan Ross, Groq aims to challenge Nvidia's dominance in the AI chip market. Ross, who helped develop Google's Tensor Processing Unit (TPU), left to create faster, more efficient AI chips with simplified designs and higher performance. In 2023, Groq raised funds from key investors like Disruptive, BlackRock, and Samsung, totaling nearly $350 million.
Groq's chips excel in processing large AI models quickly and consistently, giving them an edge in AI inference tasks. The company is now planning to raise another $600 million, which, if successful, would value Groq at nearly $6 billion, up from $2.8 billion in August 2024. The funding round is expected to be led by Austin-based investment firm Disruptive.
With its innovative AI chips and strategic partnerships, Groq is poised to make a significant impact on the AI landscape. The latest funding round, if successful, will further bolster Groq's position as a leading alternative to Nvidia in the AI chip market.
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