Groq, an AI chip startup, is seeking $650 million in new funding from existing investors to expand its inference cloud business. The company’s strategy focuses on its homegrown AI chip and systems, which are used to host inference-hungry applications for developers and enterprises. Inference, the processing that occurs after an AI prompt, is currently a more pressing need in the AI world than model training. The funding round is being led by Groq’s interim CEO and CFO, Adam Winter and Matt Eng, respectively. The move comes after Groq entered a not-acqui-hire agreement with Nvidia in December for a reported $20 billion, which involved the departure of some senior employees to Nvidia and the licensing of Groq’s hardware technology. This deal was beneficial for investors, who received cash payments that would have been part of Nvidia’s largest acquisition if the deal had been finalized. Now, these investors are being asked to support Groq’s growth plans for its inference cloud business. According to Axios, some of Groq’s backers, including Disruptive and Infinitium, have agreed to fill the round if other existing investors do not contribute their pro-rata shares. *Source: [techcrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/29/after-nvidias-20b-not-acqui-hire-ai-chip-startup-groq-reportedly-raising-650m/)*