Nvidia's Deal with Groq Under DOJ Investigation, May Involve Antitrust Scrutiny

Odaily News: According to two people familiar with the matter, the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether Nvidia (NVDA.O) sought to circumvent antitrust review in order to reach a deal signed last year with AI chip manufacturer Groq. Groq at the time described the deal as a "non-exclusive licensing agreement" that allowed Nvidia to use chips Groq had specially customized for running AI tasks.

As part of the arrangement, Groq CEO Jonathan Ross and COO Sunny Madra joined Nvidia. AI companies have struck several similar deals, including licensing technology from other companies and hiring their key employees, without completing direct acquisitions. Such arrangements can often avoid the automatic government review applied to traditional merger transactions, which is intended to determine whether a deal would harm market competition. (Jinshi)