Sept 17 (Reuters) -

Chip startup Groq said on Wednesday it has raised $750

million, more than doubling its valuation to $6.9 billion in

just over a year as Wall Street bets big on the hardware that

powers artificial intelligence technology.

Groq, founded by a former Alphabet engineer, is

among a long list of new chip players looking to capitalize on

hundreds of millions of dollars in investments on AI

infrastructure.

Its last funding round was in August last year, when it

raised $640 million that brought its valuation to $2.8 billion.

The round announced on Wednesday was led by Disruptive, with

significant investments from Blackrock ( BLK ), Neuberger

Berman, Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners and a large U.S.-based

West Coast mutual fund manager, Groq said.

Disruptive, a Dallas-based growth investment firm that has

backed companies such as Palantir ( PLTR ) and Spotify ( SPOT ),

has invested nearly $350 million in Groq, the startup said.

The round also included Samsung, Cisco ( CSCO ),

D1, Altimeter, 1789 Capital and Infinitum.

Groq is known for producing AI inference chips that optimize

pre-trained models.

The industry is increasingly shifting focus to hardware

designed for inference, from the training-centric chips that

characterized the early period of AI development.

Leading AI chipmaker Nvidia ( NVDA ), as well as smaller

rival AMD, are both gearing up to offer more inference

focused chips.

"Inference is defining this era of AI, and we're building

the American infrastructure that delivers it with high speed and

low cost," Jonathan Ross, Groq founder and CEO, said.

Groq also secured a $1.5 billion commitment from Saudi

Arabia in February to expand the delivery of its advanced AI

chips to the country.

The startup has told investors that the contracts in Saudi

Arabia will help bring in about $500 million in revenue this

year, according to earlier media reports.