The AI Acquihire Playbook

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Big Tech has quietly engineered a new corporate acquisition model that achieves 100% of M&A outcomes with 0% of regulatory friction.

Over the past two years, Google, Nvidia, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft have deployed $40+ billion through “license & acquihire” structures—hiring entire founding teams, licensing perpetual IP rights, and effectively neutralizing competitors while avoiding FTC scrutiny.

This isn’t creative dealmaking; it’s a structural reinvention of how companies acquire AI capabilities in an era where traditional M&A faces insurmountable regulatory walls.

The Nvidia-Groq deal ($20B), Meta-Scale AI stake ($14.3B for 49%), and Google’s twin Character AI ($2.7B) and Windsurf ($2.4B) plays represent the playbook’s maturation from experiment to standard operating procedure.