Key Points
- AI chip startup Groq is opening its first European data center in Helsinki, Finland.
- The expansion is driven by rising demand for AI services in Europe and the trend of “sovereign AI.”
- Groq’s special chips, called LPUs, are designed for AI “inferencing” (running models), not training them.
- The data center is a partnership with Equinix, allowing businesses to access Groq’s technology through Equinix’s network.
The AI chip startup Groq is expanding into Europe. The company announced on Monday that it has set up its first data center in the region, located in Helsinki, Finland. This move is a partnership with the data center giant Equinix and is part of Groq’s push to grow its international business.
Groq is capitalizing on the growing demand for AI services in Europe. The company is following other U.S. tech firms that have been investing heavily in the region.
Finland and the other Nordic countries are popular destinations for data centers due to their cool climates and easy access to renewable energy. The move also aligns with the growing trend of “sovereign AI,” where European countries aim to store and process data locally for enhanced security and speed.
Valued at $2.8 billion, Groq designs a unique type of chip it calls a Language Processing Unit, or LPU. Unlike the powerful Nvidia chips used to train massive AI models, Groq’s LPUs are designed for inferencing—the process of using a trained model to generate answers, as seen with a chatbot. While Nvidia dominates the training market, Groq is one of several startups competing to capture a share of the growing inference market.
Through the partnership with Equinix, Groq’s specialized chips will be installed inside the Helsinki data center. This will enable businesses to easily access Groq’s high-speed inference capabilities through Equinix’s network, which connects to major cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. This is Groq’s first data center in Europe, adding to its existing locations in the U.S., Canada, and Saudi Arabia.
