Groq raises $350M to pivot from AI chips to Nvidia-powered neocloud

Groq raises $350M to fuel its pivot from AI chips to neocloud

Groq raised $350M at a $3.5B valuation, down from $6.9B last September. The former AI chip startup is now a neocloud, buying Nvidia GPUs and building data centers for inference services. Disruptive led the round, with Nvidia planning to participate. The pivot accelerated after Nvidia hired Groq's founder late last year.

Why it matters: Groq's valuation halved, founder poached, now pivoting to buy Nvidia GPUs for inference cloud — with Nvidia itself joining the round. Strong narrative reversal, concrete numbers, signals for AI infra pros. Not scoring higher because the pivot is unproven.