Nvidia, Groq and the $20B Question: What We Know About the AI Inference Licensing Deal and Acquisition Reports
On December 24, 2025, the AI hardware world got a Christmas Eve shock: reports circulated that Nvidia had agreed to a $20 billion deal involving Groq, a fast-rising AI chip startup known for ultra-low-latency inference hardware. But as markets and social media lit up with “acquisition” headlines, Groq published its own update framing what’s actually been announced—a non-exclusive licensing agreement—and it came with a major talent move: Groq’s founder and top executives are heading to Nvidia. Groq+2TechCrunch+2 The result is a rare modern tech deal ambiguity—part acquisition rumor, part licensing-and-talent transaction—that underscores where the AI boom is heading next: from
