NVIDIA, one of the world’s largest chipmakers, has licensed chip technology from startup Groq. The company will also hire Groq’s CEO and other top executives. The announcement came on December 24, 2025.
A Growing Trend in Big Tech Deals
This deal follows a pattern seen in recent years. Big tech firms often pay large sums to promising startups to access their technology and talent. However, they usually stop short of fully acquiring the company.
Focus on AI Inference
Groq specializes in AI inference, where already trained models respond to user requests. NVIDIA leads in AI model training but faces growing competition in inference from rivals such as AMD, Groq, and Cerebras Systems.
Deal Details
NVIDIA has agreed to a non-exclusive license for Groq’s technology. Groq founder Jonathan Ross, who helped Google start its AI chip program, and Groq President Sunny Madra will join Nvidia.
While CNBC reported a potential $20 billion cash acquisition, neither company disclosed financial details. Groq will continue to operate independently, with Simon Edwards remaining CEO and its cloud business continuing.
Industry Impact
Groq has doubled its valuation to $6.9 billion since last year after raising $750 million in funding. Its chips use on-chip SRAM memory, speeding up AI interactions while avoiding the memory crunch affecting the global chip industry.
Groq’s main rival, Cerebras Systems, plans to go public next year. NVIDIA’s CEO Jensen Huang said the deal will help maintain NVIDIA’s lead as AI markets shift from training to inference.
