AI Research Opinion/Mild Hating Geopolitical Circlejerk Venture Capital
"You're taking on a giant. What gives you the audacity?"
On November 5th, 2025, Groq CEO Jonathan Ross was asked why he was even bothering to challenge Nvidia. He didn't blink:
"I think that was a polite way to ask why in the world are we competing with Nvidia, so we're not. Competition is a waste of money; competition fundamentally means you are taking something someone else is doing and trying to copy it. You're wasting R&D dollars trying to do the exact same thing they've done instead of using them to differentiate."
49 days later, Nvidia paid $20 billion for Groq's assets and hired Ross along with his entire executive team.
Except this wasn't actually an acquisition, at least not in the traditional sense. Nvidia paid $20 billion for Groq's IP and people, but explicitly did NOT buy the company. Jensen Huang's statement was surgical: "While we are adding talented employees to our ranks and licensing Groq's IP, we are not acquiring Groq as a company."
That phrasing is the entire story. Because what Nvidia carved out of the deal tells you everything about why this happened.
Forget the AI doomer takes about a bubble forming, lets look into the actual reasons.
What Nvidia Actually Bought (And What It Didn't)
Nvidia acquired:
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