Nvidia has reportedly agreed to purchase assets from Groq, a California-based designer of high-performance AI accelerator chips, in a landmark $20 billion cash deal, according to Alex Davis, CEO of Disruptive — the investment firm that led Groq’s latest funding round in September.
Davis confirmed that the transaction came together swiftly, noting that Disruptive has invested more than $500 million in Groq since its founding in 2016. Just three months earlier, the AI chip startup raised $750 million at a $6.9 billion valuation, with investors including BlackRock, Neuberger Berman, Samsung, Cisco, Altimeter, and 1789 Capital, where Donald Trump Jr. is a partner.
Licensing Deal and Leadership Transition
Groq announced in a blog post that it has entered into a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Nvidia for its AI inference technology, though it did not specify the financial details. As part of the arrangement, Groq founder and CEO Jonathan Ross, President Sunny Madra, and other senior leaders will join Nvidia to help enhance and scale the licensed technology.
Despite the leadership shift, Groq stated it will continue to operate as an independent company, now led by Simon Edwards, its former finance chief, who steps in as CEO.
No Comment from Nvidia’s CFO
While Nvidia’s CFO Colette Kress declined to comment on the acquisition, Davis told CNBC that the chipmaker is obtaining nearly all of Groq’s assets — except for its GroqCloud division, which will remain separate and continue operations without disruption.
Nvidia’s Largest Deal to Date
The $20 billion transaction marks Nvidia’s biggest acquisition in history, dwarfing its previous largest purchase of Mellanox Technologies for nearly $7 billion in 2019. As of October 2025, Nvidia’s cash reserves and short-term investments had surged to $60.6 billion, up from $13.3 billion at the beginning of 2023 — giving it ample capacity for strategic expansion.
In an internal memo to employees, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang highlighted how the deal will expand Nvidia’s technological capabilities:
“We plan to integrate Groq’s low-latency processors into the NVIDIA AI Factory architecture, extending the platform to serve a broader range of AI inference and real-time workloads.”
Huang clarified that Nvidia is not acquiring Groq as a company, but rather its assets and intellectual property, along with key members of its technical team.
A Growing Trend in AI Talent Acquisitions
This deal mirrors Nvidia’s recent move in September 2025, when it spent more than $900 million to bring in Enfabrica CEO Rochan Sankar and other staff from the AI hardware startup — alongside licensing its technology.
The approach is becoming increasingly common across Silicon Valley. Meta, Google, and Microsoft have all made similar talent-driven deals in recent years, focusing on securing top AI engineers and technologies to strengthen their artificial intelligence ecosystems.
With this acquisition, Nvidia continues to fortify its position at the forefront of the AI hardware race, deepening its technological leadership and expanding its influence across the global AI landscape.
Ruchi Kumar is the associate editor at Entrepreneur News Network and TVW News India, where she leads editorial strategy, brand storytelling, and startup ecosystem coverage. With a strong focus on innovation, business, and marketing insights, he curates impactful narratives that spotlight India’s evolving entrepreneurial landscape.