source: techcrunch ai: ai chip maker sambanova raises $1b at $11b valuation, 5 months after last mega round
level: business
sambanova systems, a palo alto-based ai chip startup, raised $1 billion in a first close of its series f round, reaching an $11 billion valuation. general atlantic led the round, with more investors expected in a second close soon. this follows a $350 million series e in february and the launch of its sn50 chip. the company had also been in acquisition talks with intel, which valued it at around $1.6 billion, but ceo rodrigo liang said momentum may lead to going public eventually.
the startup deepened its partnership with intel, a backer since series c, co-developing ai inference products on intel xeon chips. sambanova also announced jpmorganchase as an inference-infrastructure partner, using its sn40l and sn50 systems for secure on-premises ai. liang said this signals to banks that they need not rely solely on cloud services, as they build private infrastructure for sensitive models. other customers include saudi aramco and softbank, which will be the first to deploy sn50 chips in the second half of 2026.
sambanova focuses on premium inference for large models with trillions of parameters, fitting them onto a single rack for speed. it targets sovereign clouds, neoclouds, and enterprises. the new funding will scale the business and secure its supply chain amid surging demand. investors in the round include seligman ventures, t. rowe price, capital group, blackrock, and qatar investment authority.
why it matters: sambanova's funding and bank partnership show growing demand for specialized ai inference hardware outside of cloud giants, which could reshape enterprise ai infrastructure.
source: techcrunch ai: ai chip maker sambanova raises $1b at $11b valuation, 5 months after last mega round