May 28 (Reuters) - Groq is raising up to $650 million from existing investors, Axios reported on Thursday, after the AI chip startup signed a $17 billion licensing deal with Nvidia in December.
Groq has been shifting focus away from hardware toward AI inferencing, where it specializes in enabling trained AI models to respond to user requests.
• The startup's investors have already received payouts, with a final cash distribution expected soon through the Nvidia deal, Axios reported.
• Investors are now being asked to participate in Groq 2.0, with existing backers Disruptive and Infinitum backstopping the $650 million raise if it is not fully subscribed, the report said.
• Existing shareholders will receive the remaining cash distributions and then have the opportunity to invest in a new company, Axios reported.
• Groq did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.
• Nvidia is preparing a version of its Groq AI chips that can be sold to the Chinese market, two sources familiarwith the matter told Reuters in March.
(Reporting by Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Ananda)
