Welcome back to Daily Zaps, your regularly-scheduled dose of AI news ⚡️ 

Here’s what we got for ya today:

• 🤖 Is Groq with a “q” the next NVIDIA?

• 📈 NVIDIA briefly hits $4T market value

• 💰 Meta’s $200M AI hiring package

• 🧠 Perplexity launches AI-powered web browser

Let’s get right into it!

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STARTUPS

Is Groq with a “q” the next NVIDIA?

Groq is a semiconductor company that builds custom chips optimized for AI inference, using a unique architecture called a tensor streaming processor. Unlike Nvidia’s general-purpose GPUs, Groq’s chips are designed specifically for ultra-fast, deterministic inference, delivering consistent low-latency performance for real-time AI applications like chatbots and edge computing. While Groq offers compelling speed advantages for certain tasks, it isn’t a full-spectrum competitor to Nvidia, which dominates the AI ecosystem with hardware and software tools for both training and inference, supported by a mature developer community and widespread adoption.

Inference is the process of running a trained AI model to generate predictions or outputs—such as identifying objects in images or responding to user queries—based on new data. It’s different from training, which involves teaching the model using large datasets and substantial compute power. Inference needs to be fast, efficient, and scalable, especially in production environments. Specialized chips like Groq’s aim to make this step as fast and predictable as possible, often at lower power consumption and cost compared to more general-purpose hardware.

BIG TECH

NVIDIA briefly hits $4T market value

Nvidia has become the first company in history to reach a $4 trillion market valuation, with its stock surging over 20% in 2025 and more than 1,000% since 2023, driven by soaring demand for its AI chips. Major tech firms like Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Google—who together account for over 40% of Nvidia’s revenue—are ramping up AI infrastructure spending, projected to hit $350 billion.

This positions Nvidia as the “picks and shovels” of the AI boom: instead of building consumer AI products, it profits by supplying the essential hardware (GPUs and systems) that powers nearly all AI development and deployment, much like tool suppliers during the gold rush. Despite volatility and macroeconomic concerns earlier in 2025, Nvidia rebounded strongly as earnings and customer spending reassured investors, reinforcing its central role in the AI ecosystem and the broader stock market.

BIG TECH

Meta’s $200M AI hiring package

Ruoming Pang, former head of Apple’s AI models team, left to join Meta’s Superintelligence Labs (MSL) after receiving a massive compensation package worth over $200 million spread across several years….one of the largest seen in the ongoing AI talent war. The package includes a high base salary, signing bonus, and a large portion in Meta stock, which vests over time and depends on performance.

Apple reportedly didn’t attempt to match the offer, which even exceeds CEO Tim Cook’s compensation. Pang’s departure may signal a broader talent shift, as others from his team are rumored to be considering exits. Apple has since appointed Zhifeng Chen to lead its foundation models team and adopted a more distributed leadership approach.

STARTUPS

Perplexity launches AI-powered web browser

Perplexity has launched Comet, its first AI-powered web browser, aimed at challenging Google Search and Chrome by offering integrated AI tools directly in the browser experience. Initially available to $200/month Max plan users and select invitees, Comet features Perplexity’s AI search engine as the default and introduces Comet Assistant, an AI agent that helps users with tasks like summarizing emails, managing tabs, and navigating web content.

While the assistant is useful for simple tasks and brings context-aware help via a side panel, it requires extensive access to user data and struggles with complex actions due to hallucinations. Despite these limitations, Comet’s unique integration of AI assistance and Perplexity’s rapid growth (780M queries in May 2025) may give it a competitive edge in the emerging market of AI-first browsers.