The most valuable publicly traded company in the world continues to accelerate its commitment to Artificial Intelligence. Therefore, it became the most expensive purchase in its history.
According to North American television CNBC, the deal will be done for 20 billion dollars (almost 17 billion euros, at current exchange rates). The technology company moved towards acquiring the assets of Groq, a startup that develops semiconductor chips.
At issue is a non-exclusive license agreement, according to information released by Groq, in a statement in which the amount transacted is not mentioned. Therefore, the startup will continue to be an “independent company”, with Simon Edwards as CEO.
At issue is the strong appreciation of Groq in recent months, after being valued at 6.9 billion dollars (5.85 billion euros) in an investment round carried out three months ago. At the time, it managed to attract 750 million dollars (637 million euros).
Furthermore, the startup has had equity investments of around 500 million dollars (424 million euros) since it was founded in 2016.
Biggest purchase ever by Nvidia
The deal far surpasses what was, to date, Nvidia’s most expensive deal ever. This is because, in 2019, it purchased another chip manufacturer, Mellanox, founded in Israel, for seven billion dollars.
The deal does not compromise Nvidia’s finances, as, at the end of October, it had US$60.6 billion available to make investments in the short term.