Nvidia Shares Fall 2.4% As DOJ Probes Whether $20B Groq Deal Dodges Antitrust Scrutiny Thursday Morning

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Shares of Nvidia Corp. fell $5.41, or 2.42%, to $218.01 as of 9:51 a.m. ET Thursday, after Bloomberg reported that the U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing whether the chipmaker's $20 billion arrangement with AI startup Groq was structured specifically to limit antitrust scrutiny.

According to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg, the Justice Department's inquiry centers on a transaction Nvidia and Groq first unveiled in December, one that gave Nvidia access to Groq's underlying AI chip technology while allowing the startup to continue operating as a separate, independently funded company rather than being formally absorbed into Nvidia. As part of the arrangement, Groq chief executive Jonathan Ross and chief operating officer Sunny Madra subsequently moved over to Nvidia.

The unusual structure of the deal has drawn attention from U.S. lawmakers, who have questioned whether the arrangement effectively amounts to a full acquisition of Groq, one they argue could reduce competition within the artificial intelligence chip industry even though it was not structured as a conventional merger requiring the same level of regulatory review.

Nvidia has publicly defended the transaction, stating that the agreement allows the company to make use of Groq's technology across its broader product ecosystem while Groq's own cloud computing operation continues to be run and funded independently, separate from Nvidia's direct control.

Thursday's decline extends a difficult recent stretch for Nvidia shares, which have shown significant volatility over the past several weeks amid a combination of company-specific developments and broader shifts in investor sentiment toward AI-linked semiconductor stocks. The stock's 52-week range has included a low near $199.32, reached in June, reflecting a period when Nvidia shares lost more than 7% over a four-week stretch amid broader market concerns, even as the stock remained up nearly 30% over the trailing 12 months at that point.

Nvidia has continued making headlines on multiple fronts throughout the week beyond the Groq investigation. The company confirmed a quarterly cash dividend of $0.25 per share, with an ex-dividend date of Sept. 10, continuing its practice of returning capital to shareholders even amid the stock's recent volatility. Nvidia also announced this week that it is expanding its AI infrastructure capacity in Australia through new partnerships with local companies, targeting a significant computing buildout by 2027 aimed at improving local access to accelerated computing resources for startups and researchers in the region.

The company's broader AI infrastructure investment activity has continued at a rapid pace in recent weeks. Nvidia separately backed a $3.1 billion deal supporting a GPU computing buildout in Indonesia through a partnership described as the Zankore deal, according to reporting cited by CNN, part of the company's ongoing global push to expand AI computing capacity across multiple international markets simultaneously.

Nvidia's stock has also faced scrutiny tied to a much larger financing arrangement reported last month. According to the Financial Times, cited by Forbes, Nvidia has been working with some of Wall Street's largest financial firms, including Apollo Global, Blackstone, BlackRock, Brookfield Asset Management, Goldman Sachs and KKR, to help construct a $500 billion AI infrastructure funding package. That report initially sent Nvidia shares down as much as 3% in a single session in August amid investor concern over the concentration risk such a massive, interconnected financing arrangement could pose to both Nvidia and its financial partners.

Options market activity around Nvidia has remained notably elevated in recent sessions. According to TipRanks, Cboe options data has shown mixed sentiment among traders positioning around the stock, while separate reporting noted that at least one Nvidia put option buyer realized a 22% same-day gain earlier this week, reflecting the continued volatility characterizing trading in the stock.

Beyond the Groq investigation specifically, broader questions about the economics underlying Nvidia's business model have also drawn recent attention from prominent market skeptics. Short-seller Jim Chanos has publicly challenged aspects of Nvidia's GPU rental economics, pointing to a recent 22% jump in H100 chip rental rates as a potential signal of underlying strain in the broader AI computing rental market that Nvidia's hardware sales ultimately depend on.

Nvidia's stock movements this week have also occurred alongside broader weakness across the semiconductor sector more generally. Chip stocks including Micron, AMD and Intel all posted declines earlier this week, according to TipRanks, reflecting sector-wide pressure that has weighed on Nvidia shares independent of the company-specific Groq investigation news that emerged Thursday.

Nvidia continues to operate as one of the world's most valuable companies, functioning primarily as a data center-scale AI infrastructure provider with operations spanning the United States, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Europe and other international markets. The company's business is organized around two primary segments: Compute & Networking, which includes its data center accelerated computing platforms, AI solutions and software, and automotive platforms, and Graphics, which includes its traditional gaming and visualization products.

With the Justice Department's review of the Groq transaction now adding a new layer of regulatory uncertainty to Nvidia's stock, investors are likely to continue watching closely for further developments in the investigation, along with any additional details regarding the company's expanding international infrastructure partnerships and its reported involvement in the broader $500 billion AI financing arrangement, as the combination of regulatory scrutiny and sector-wide volatility continues to shape trading in Nvidia shares heading into the final months of 2026.