Groq, AI Chip startup, has just secured a massive $640 million in funding, catapulting its valuation to a whopping $2.8 billion.
The company is on a mission to revolutionize Artificial Intelligence (AI) computing with its custom-made chips, called Language Processing Units (LPUs).
These chips can allegedly run AI models up to 10 times faster while using a fraction of the energy of traditional processors.
The funding round was led by BlackRock, with other notable investors like Neuberger Berman, Cisco, and Samsung joining in.
Proud to share our Series D Funding announcement, led by BlackRock Private Equity Partners.
— Groq Inc (@GroqInc) August 5, 2024
We will:
– Add capacity – there’s huge developer demand
– Continue hiring exceptional talent
– Accelerate our next-gen LPU
Groq speed is leading the way in instant AI inference. Thanks for…
This brings Groq’s total capital raised to over $1 billion, demonstrating the strong interest in AI chip innovation.
Groq has also made some significant hires, including Meta’s chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun, as a technical advisor, and Stuart Pann, former head of Intel’s foundry business, as its new Chief Operating Officer.
The company’s cloud-based platform, GroqCloud, has already attracted over 356,000 developers since its launch.
As the demand for AI computing power continues to soar, Groq is looking to carve out a niche in the market by focusing on inference tasks with its purpose-built LPUs.
The company aims to deploy over 108,000 LPUs by early 2025 and is partnering with Samsung to manufacture its next-generation 4nm chips.
Groq’s CEO, Jonathan Ross, sees this funding as a major step forward, saying it accelerates the company’s vision of delivering instant AI inference compute to the world.
With AI continuing to shape the tech landscape, Groq’s progress will be closely watched by industry insiders and potential customers alike.