An artificial intelligence chip company called Groq is seeking to secure as much as $650 million in new funding from its current investors, according to a Thursday report from Axios. This fundraising effort follows the company’s December agreement with Nvidia worth $17 billion in licensing arrangements.
The company has been changing its business strategy, moving away from hardware production and instead concentrating on AI inferencing services. This specialized field involves helping trained artificial intelligence models process and respond to requests from users.
According to the Axios report, Groq’s current investors have already received financial returns, with additional cash payments expected to be distributed soon as part of the Nvidia agreement.
The publication reported that investors are being invited to join what’s being called Groq 2.0, with current backers Disruptive and Infinitum prepared to guarantee the full $650 million funding round if other investors don’t fully participate.
Existing shareholders will first receive their remaining cash distributions before being given the chance to invest in the restructured company, Axios reported.
When Reuters reached out to Groq for comment, the company did not provide an immediate response.
In March, two sources with knowledge of the situation told Reuters that Nvidia is developing a modified version of its Groq AI chips specifically designed for sale in the Chinese market.
