DOJ Is Investigating Whether Nvidia Structured Its $20B Groq License to Avoid Merger Review
Bloomberg·high signal
The Justice Department sent Nvidia a formal information demand about the December deal. Nvidia took a non-exclusive license to Groq's chip technology and hired executives including founder Jonathan Ross, but filed no HSR merger notice. The DOJ's theory is that what matters is whether economically significant assets changed hands, not the legal label on the deal. That theory could reach the whole reverse-acquihire pattern AI labs have used to absorb startups, although an unwind is considered unlikely.