Nvidia didn’t acquire Groq but poached its senior executives by leveraging the technology

According to a report by The New York Times, the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether a technology licensing and talent-recruitment agreement reached last year between Nvidia and the AI ​​chip startup Groq was designed to deliberately circumvent the antitrust scrutiny typically associated with acquisitions. The probe highlights growing regulatory concern over how tech giants are using such tactics—rather than direct acquisitions—to expand their footprint in the AI ​​sector.