San Francisco — Nvidia has strengthened its artificial intelligence ambitions by hiring the top leadership of AI chip startup Groq, as part of a non-exclusive licensing agreement focused on inference technology. Groq confirmed that founder Jonathan Ross, president Sunny Madra, and other team members will join Nvidia to help develop and scale Groq’s low-cost AI inference capabilities.
Under the agreement, Groq will license its inference technology to Nvidia while continuing to operate independently under new chief executive Simon Edwards. The announcement followed media speculation that Nvidia was acquiring Groq outright for $20 billion, a claim denied by sources familiar with the matter.
Nvidia currently dominates the AI training chip market, a position that has propelled it to become the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization. However, it faces growing competition in the inference segment, where startups like Groq specialize in efficiently running pre-trained AI models used in applications such as chatbots and image recognition systems.
The move resembles an “acquihire,” a Silicon Valley practice where large technology firms recruit key talent from smaller companies without fully acquiring them. Such arrangements have become more common as regulators increase scrutiny over major tech acquisitions. Similar deals have been seen in recent years involving Microsoft, Google, and Meta, reflecting a broader industry trend toward talent-driven expansion in AI.
