AI Chip Startup Groq Doubles Valuation to $6.9B in Latest Funding Round

Blackrock-backed AI inference chip developer Groq has secured $750 million in fresh funding, more than doubling its valuation to $6.9 billion. The round was led by Disruptive, with participation from institutional heavyweights including Neuberger Berman, Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners, and a major West Coast mutual fund manager.

The funding surge highlights the industry's pivot toward inference-optimized hardware as AI infrastructure matures. Groq's specialized chips accelerate pre-trained model performance in cloud and data center environments—a capability gaining importance as the market shifts from training-focused systems to deployment solutions.

Strategic investors like Samsung and Cisco joined the round, signaling broader industry recognition of inference technology's role in scaling AI applications. The capital infusion follows Groq's $640 million raise in August 2023 that valued the company at $2.8 billion.