DOJ probes Nvidia licensing deal with Groq

The US Justice Department is investigating whether Nvidia structured its Groq arrangement to avoid antitrust scrutiny. The New York Times reported the inquiry, and Reuters cited two people familiar with the matter. The account is confidential-source journalism, not a department press release, a court complaint, or a finding of wrongdoing.

Groq's own 24 December 2025 newsroom post is the public description of the deal. Groq called it a non-exclusive licensing agreement for its inference technology. Founder Jonathan Ross, president Sunny Madra, and other Groq staff joined Nvidia. Groq said it would remain an independent company under new CEO Simon Edwards, with GroqCloud continuing without interruption. The same license-plus-talent structure is already the comparison set for Nvidia's reported Hugging Face talks.

Reuters, wrapping the Times, says the probe opened shortly after that December announcement and that the department has sent Nvidia a formal request for information. Nvidia has not published the request.

Deal size still does not agree across outlets. Reuters cites a $17 billion deal, while Bloomberg describes a $20 billion licensing agreement, and neither figure appears in Groq's own announcement.

An Nvidia spokesperson told Reuters: "The Groq story is a prime example of the American system working as designed to promote innovation, reward entrepreneurs, and benefit consumers." Groq and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to Reuters outside regular hours. People describing the inquiry have said an unwind is unlikely and that a fine is the more plausible remedy if the department finds a filing failure, which is source speculation, not a department statement.