Groq’s AI-Powered Chips Set to Receive New Funding Round Led by Blackrock, Valuation Reportedly at $2.5 Billion

Groq, a company that develops artificial intelligence-powered chips, is reportedly set to receive a new funding round led by Blackrock. This new valuation is said to be around $2.5 billion, according to sources familiar with the matter. However, both Groq and Blackrock have declined to comment on this rumored valuation.

Groq has been in the process of raising additional funding and has hired investment firm Morgan Stanley to help secure $300 million in this round. The new financing has not been finalized yet and terms are subject to change. If successful, this new financing could significantly increase Groq’s value from its previous funding round. Groq raised $300 million in a 2021 round led by Tiger Global Management and D1 Capital Partners, and has received a total of $367 million in funding so far.

Groq was founded in 2016 by former Google executive Jonathan Ross and specializes in chips designed for inference, focusing on processing AI that is already deployed rather than creating new AI models. The company’s “language processing units” are claimed to be more than 10 times faster than conventional chips and significantly cheaper. However, Groq faces competition from several other hardware inference companies such as SiMa.ai (backed by Point72), Dmatrix (backed by Microsoft), Untether.AI (backed by Intel), among others who are all challenging Nvidia which briefly held the title of the most valuable company in the world before a recent stock market decline