据这家初创公司前工程师提起的诉讼称，英伟达以200亿美元收购人工智能芯片设计公司Groq资产的协议“挤出了”股东利益。
Nvidia's $20 billion deal to acquire assets from Groq, an AI chip designer, "squeezed out" stockholders, a lawsuit brought by ex-engineers at the startup alleges.
Joshua Rubin和Benjamin Serebrin在10月2日向特拉华州衡平法院提交的文件中声称，该协议向股东提出的价格“过低”。
Joshua Rubin and Benjamin Serebrin alleged that the deal offered stockholders a "lowball" price, in documents filed on Oct. 2 at the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware.
根据他们的领英个人资料，Rubin和Serebrin在Groq与英伟达的协议宣布之前均已离职，但根据他们的诉讼，他们仍持有该公司股票。
Rubin and Serebrin both left Groq before its Nvidia deal was announced, per their LinkedIn profiles, but held stock in the company, per their lawsuit.
去年12月，Groq宣布与英伟达达成一项许可协议，授权使用其推理技术。Groq创始人兼首席执行官Jonathan Ross及其总裁Sunny Madra与其他多位高管一同加入了这家市值5万亿美元的芯片巨头。
In December, Groq announced it had entered into a licensing agreement with Nvidia for the company's inference technology. Groq founder and CEO Jonathan Ross and its president, Sunny Madra, joined the $5 trillion chip giant as part of the deal, along with other senior leaders.
Groq表示，其将继续作为“独立公司”运营，并自6月以来已从包括英伟达在内的投资者处筹集了约10亿美元资金。
Groq said it would continue as an "independent company" and has raised around $1 billion since June, from investors including Nvidia.
Rubin和Serebrin的诉讼指控称，Groq的董事会“未经特拉华州法律所要求的股东投票，也未经任何旨在检验或最大化英伟达所购资产价值的程序，就将公司出售给了英伟达。”Groq的一名发言人告诉CNBC：“我们与英伟达的许可协议为Groq、我们的投资者和员工带来了非凡的价值。”
Rubin and Serebrin's case alleges that Groq's board of directors "sold the company to Nvidia without the stockholder vote Delaware law requires and without any process designed to test or maximize the value of what Nvidia bought." "Our licensing agreement with NVIDIA delivered exceptional value for Groq, our investors, and our employees," a Groq spokesperson told CNBC.
发言人补充道：“这项诉讼毫无根据，我们将坚决为自己辩护。我们仍专注于服务客户，并构建世界领先的人工智能推理云。”目前尚未收到英伟达的回应。
"This lawsuit is meritless and we will vigorously defend ourselves against it," they added. "We remain focused on serving our customers and building the world's leading AI inference cloud." Nvidia has been approached for comment.
该诉讼指控称，英伟达将“170亿美元分配给了一个被其标记为‘非独家’的许可协议”，另拨出30亿美元的英伟达限制性股票单位（“RSU”）给随该技术一同加入的Groq员工，并安排那些被指定为Groq董事会成员的投资基金，从后续的挤兑交易中获取意外收益。
The case alleges that Nvidia allocated "$17 billion to a license it labeled "non-exclusive," set aside an additional $3 billion of NVIDIA restricted stock units ("RSUs") for the Groq employees who moved with the technology, and positioned the investment funds that designated Groq Board members to enjoy windfall returns from the later squeeze-out."
诉讼还称，“因此，董事会多数成员出现了利益冲突。”并补充道：“董事会这种存在利益冲突的选择，使Groq的股东损失了数十亿美元。”根据该诉讼，约有150至200名Groq工程师作为交易的一部分成为英伟达员工。
It also alleges that "A Board majority was conflicted as a result." It adds: "The Board's conflicted choice cost Groq's stockholders billions of dollars." Approximately 150 to 200 Groq engineers became Nvidia employees as part of the deal, according to the case.
在交易宣布前后发送给员工的一封邮件中，英伟达首席执行官黄仁勋表示，该协议将扩大英伟达的能力。
In an email to employees from around the time the deal was announced, obtained by CNBC, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the agreement would expand Nvidia's capabilities.
黄仁勋写道：“我们计划将Groq的低延迟处理器整合到英伟达AI工厂架构中，从而扩展该平台，以支持更广泛的AI推理和实时工作负载。”
"We plan to integrate Groq's low-latency processors into the NVIDIA AI factory architecture, extending the platform to serve an even broader range of AI inference and real-time workloads," Huang wrote.
黄仁勋还补充说：“虽然我们正在吸纳优秀人才加入团队，并获得了Groq的知识产权许可，但我们并未收购Groq这家公司。”
Huang added: "While we are adding talented employees to our ranks and licensing Groq's IP, we are not acquiring Groq as a company."