No shade but most other coverage will focus on whether this signals an AI bubble. That's missing the story.

Nvidia explicitly did NOT acquire Groq. They licensed the IP and hired the talent. This structure dodges CFIUS review (Groq had $1.5B in Saudi government contracts), antitrust scrutiny, and years of regulatory delays.

The $13B premium over the September valuation was the cost of regulatory arbitrage. Announced Christmas Eve while Trump's AI Czar (Chamath's All-In podcast co-host) is in office. Chamath's Social Capital made AT LEAST ~$2B on this exit.

My article breaks down: what Nvidia actually bought vs what they left behind, why the deal structure matters, who got paid, and the political connections nobody's talking about.

So many companies doing non-"acquisitions" during this AI boom! Though this one is at least more comprehensive than say, Google simply hiring back Noam Shazeer from Character.AI or OpenAI taking Windsurf

I don't read it this way. I cynically read it as a $20B refund to Musk for all the Nvidia gear he's purchased. more circular financing.

Nvidia bought groq? I am out of the loop but what does groq have that they want?

I think it's important to note that there's nothing forbidding LPU style determinism from being used in training. They just didn't make that choice.

Also tenstorrent could be a viable challenger in this space. It seems to me that their NoC and their chips could be mostly deterministic as long as you don't start adding in branches

Related:

Nvidia to buy assets from Groq for $20B cash

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46379183

This behavior is extremely damaging to the startup scene. Who would join a startup these days unless it’s run by a close friend or relative? At least in that case, the scorned junior employees would have social recourse.