After Nvidia’s $20B Non-Acquisition, AI Chip Startup Groq Seeks $650M Funding

Groq is raising $650 million in new funding from existing investors, Axios reported on May 29, 2026, as the AI chip startup refocuses on its inference neocloud business following a landmark non-acquisition deal with Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) in December 2025. The $20 billion transaction saw senior Groq employees leave for Nvidia and the licensing of Groq’s hardware technology, delivering a cash windfall to the startup’s backers. Now, those investors — led by interim CEO Adam Winter and CFO Matt Eng — are being asked to fund the company’s pivot to AI inference, which processes AI prompts and is in high demand. Backers Disruptive and Infinitium have agreed to purchase any unsubscribed shares, effectively guaranteeing the round and ensuring Groq can scale its cloud services for enterprise AI applications.