Groq, a US semiconductor startup, has secured a$1.5 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to expand its AI chip delivery. The Silicon Valley firm, founded by a former Alphabet engineer, specialises in AI inference chips designed for speed and efficiency in pre-trained model execution. A partnership with Aramco Digital has already established an AI hub in the region.

Funding will be received throughout the year to support the expansion of Groq's data centre in Dammam. The company's chips, used for chatbots and large language models, comply with US export regulations, with necessary licences already secured for shipments to Saudi Arabia.

The investment was announced at Saudi Arabia's LEAP 2025 technology event, where the country confirmed$14.9 billion in new AI investments. Groq's chips will help power the Dammam data centre, which will support Allam, a Saudi-developed AI language model operating in Arabic and English.

Groq reached a$2.8 billion valuation last August after raising$640 million in funding from Cisco Investments, Samsung Catalyst Fund, and BlackRock Private Equity Partners.