Groq

Groq builds custom Language Processing Units (LPUs) designed exclusively for LLM inference. The result: 500-1,000+ tokens per second on models like Llama 4 Scout and Qwen 3, which is 5-10x faster than typical GPU-based inference. The LPU uses on-chip SRAM instead of external HBM memory, eliminating the memory bandwidth bottleneck that limits GPU inference speed. The Groq 3 LPU, unveiled at GTC 2026, targets 1,500 tokens/sec with 40 petabytes per second of memory bandwidth. The API is OpenAI-compatible, making it a drop-in replacement for existing codebases. For latency-sensitive applications like real-time chat, voice agents, or any use case where time-to-first-token matters, Groq delivers inference speeds that no GPU-based provider can match.