Updates sourcing throughout

May 28 (Reuters) - Groq is raising up to $650 million from existing investors, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday, after the AI chip startup signed a $17 billion licensing deal with Nvidia NVDA.O in December.

Groq has been shifting focus away from hardware toward AI inferencing, where it specializes in enabling trained AI models to respond to user requests.

• The startup's investors have already received payouts, with a final cash distribution expected soon through the Nvidia deal, according to the source.

• Investors are now being asked to participate in Groq 2.0, with existing backers Disruptive and Infinitum backstopping the $650 million raise if it is not fully subscribed, the source said.

• Existing shareholders will receive the remaining cash distributions and then have the opportunity to invest in a new company, as per the source.

• Axios reported the news first earlier in the day.

• Nvidia is preparing a version of its Groq ​AI chips that can be sold to the Chinese market, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in March.