Just now, Nvidia's rival Groq received a $300 million investment from BlackRock! The latest valuation is $2.2 billion
Nvidia's competitor Groq receives a $300 million investment from BlackRock, with a valuation of $2.2 billion. Groq's AI chips are fast but lack flexibility. The company plans to shift towards providing cloud computing services for developers. Groq faces competition from other startups. This news falls under business-related information
According to the latest report from The Information, Nvidia's competitor Groq is expected to complete a $300 million financing round led by BlackRock within the next two weeks, with a valuation reaching $2.2 billion.
Compared to 2021, the valuation doubled to $1.1 billion led by Tiger Global Management and D1 Capital.
One of Groq's founders is Jonathan Ross, one of the inventors of Google's dedicated NPU chip. In February this year, Groq released a demo video showcasing how its AI chip can run LLM in a fraction of a second.
Since then, Groq has attracted a lot of attention from developers. The speed is particularly attractive for AI developers who find it difficult to locate and afford Nvidia's expensive GPUs.
It is reported that Groq's chips are so fast because they are specifically designed for the underlying architecture of LLM. However, there is a trade-off between speed and flexibility.
For example, one reason Nvidia chips are so popular is that they can be more easily used for different types of AI models. In addition, another advantage of Nvidia is its widely used Cuda software, which developers are more familiar with and is exclusive to Nvidia chips.
In April this year, CEO Ross stated that Groq is no longer trying to sell hardware directly to customers, but is shifting towards providing cloud computing services to developers. This is because the cost and risk of customers purchasing and setting up Groq's chips themselves are too high.
Furthermore, Groq faces fierce competition from many other startups running LLM chips, such as Etched and Taalas.
A partner at Thrive Capital, an investor in OpenAI, stated that the debate between open source and closed source is quickly reaching a conclusion; there is a huge opportunity for small models and terminals, and the next hundred billion dollar company will be in the toC sector...
Author: Newin, Original Title: "Express | Just Now, Nvidia's Competitor Groq Receives $300 Million Investment from BlackRock! Latest Valuation $2.2 Billion"