Groq, the AI chip startup founded by former Alphabet engineer Jonathan Ross, has raised $750M in new funding, more than doubling its valuation to $6.9B in just over a year. The round was led by Disruptive, with participation from BlackRock, Neuberger Berman, Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners, Samsung, Cisco, D1, Altimeter, 1789 Capital, and Infinitum.
Groq specializes in inference chips designed to optimize the performance of pre-trained AI models, a market increasingly prioritized over training-focused hardware. The company previously raised $640M in August 2023 at a $2.8B valuation and also secured a $1.5B commitment from Saudi Arabia earlier this year to expand chip delivery in the region.
Positioning itself against established players like Nvidia and AMD, Groq is betting that inference will define the next era of AI infrastructure, combining speed, efficiency, and cost savings at scale.
