A manner out of the reminiscence squeeze?
There’s stress all through the availability chain for chips used for AI functions, resulting in Nvidia’s CFO reporting in its final earnings name that a few of its chips are “bought out” or “absolutely utilized.” One of many components contributing to this recognized by analysts is a scarcity of high-bandwidth reminiscence. Discovering methods to make their AI operations much less depending on scarce reminiscence chips is turning into a key goal for AI distributors and enterprise patrons alike.
A big distinction between Groq’s chip designs and Nvidia’s is the kind of reminiscence every makes use of. Nvidia’s quickest chips are designed to work with high-bandwidth reminiscence, the value of which – like that of different quick reminiscence applied sciences — is hovering attributable to restricted manufacturing capability and rising demand in AI-related functions. Groq, in the meantime, integrates static RAM into its chip designs. It says SRAM is quicker and fewer power-hungry than the dynamic RAM utilized by competing chip applied sciences — and one other benefit is that it’s not (but) as scarce because the high-bandwidth reminiscence or DDR5 DRAM used elsewhere. Licensing Groq’s know-how opens the way in which for Nvidia to diversify its reminiscence sourcing.
Not an acquisition
By structuring its relationship with Groq as an IP licensing deal, and hiring the engineers it’s most concerned about somewhat than shopping for their employer, Nvidia avoids taking up the GroqCloud service enterprise simply as it’s reportedly stepping again from its personal service enterprise, DGX cloud, and restructuring it as an internal engineering service. It may additionally escape a lot of the antitrust scrutiny that may have accompanied a full-on acquisition.
Nvidia didn’t reply to questions concerning the names and roles of the previous Groq executives it has employed.
Nonetheless, Groq’s founder, Jonathan Ross, studies on his LinkedIn profile that he’s now chief software program architect at Nvidia, whereas that of Groq’s former president, Sunny Madra, says he’s now Nvidia’s VP of {hardware}.
What’s left of Groq can be run by Simon Edwards, previously CFO at gross sales automation software program vendor Conga. He joined Groq as CFO simply three months in the past.
