Groq Raises $650 Million to Expand Data Centers After Nvidia Asset Sale

What happened

Groq announced a new $650M round shortly after selling assets to Nvidia. The funds will expand data centers and pivot the company from a hardware maker into a cloud inference provider.

Context and impact

Groq long built its own LPU chip, but the Nvidia deal changed the firm's identity — it now operates as a specialized inference cloud. For developers, this could mean better access to low-latency LPU compute; for the market, more evidence that Nvidia is consolidating the vertical under itself (echoing the recent xAI Colossus deal).

Details

• Round: $650M
• Use of funds: data-center expansion, pivot to inference platform
• Prior asset sale to Nvidia reshaped long-term strategy
• Positions Groq against Baseten ($1.5B last week), Together AI, Fireworks
• Part of a broader Q2 2026 wave of AI inference funding