AI chip startup Groq has announced the formation of a new division, Groq Systems, aimed at significantly expanding its customer and developer ecosystem. The move comes alongside the acquisition of Definitive Intelligence, a Palo Alto-based firm offering business-oriented AI solutions.
Groq, which emerged from stealth in 2016, is developing the Groq LPU (language processing unit) inference engine. The company claims its LPU can run large language models similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT and GPT-4 at 10 times the speed of conventional hardware.
The new Groq Systems division will focus on serving organizations, including government agencies, that wish to integrate Groq's chips into existing data centers or build new data centers using Groq processors. This move positions Groq to compete in the highly competitive custom AI chip market.
As part of the acquisition, Definitive Intelligence CEO Sunny Madra will lead GroqCloud, Groq's cloud platform that provides hardware documentation, code samples, and self-serve API access to the company's cloud-hosted accelerators. Madra brings expertise in AI solutions and go-to-market strategies to his new role.
"At Groq, we're committed to creating an AI economy that's accessible and affordable for anyone with a brilliant idea," said Groq co-founder and CEO Jonathan Ross in a press release. "We're excited to welcome Sunny and his team from Definitive Intelligence to help us achieve this mission."
Prior to the acquisition, Definitive Intelligence had raised $25.5 million in venture capital. The firm offers several business-oriented GenAI products, including OpenAssistants for developing AI chatbots, Advisor for data visualization, and Pioneer for autonomous data analytics.
"The world is just now realizing how important high-speed inference is to generative AI," Madra said in an emailed statement. "At Groq, we're giving developers the speed, low latency, and efficiency they need to deliver on the generative AI promise."
Groq's CEO, Jonathan Ross, is known for helping invent Google's tensor processing unit (TPU), a custom AI accelerator chip used to train and run models. With the formation of Groq Systems and the acquisition of Definitive Intelligence, Groq is positioning itself to establish a strong foothold in the enterprise and public sector AI markets.