AI chip maker SambaNova raises $1B at $11B valuation, 5 months after last mega round

SambaNova Secures $1B for Enterprise AI Hardware

AI chip company SambaNova Systems has secured $1 billion in a first close of its Series F funding round, reaching an $11 billion valuation. The round, led by General Atlantic, comes only five months after the company announced a $350 million Series E. This rapid capital infusion underscores intense investor demand for specialized hardware designed to run large-scale AI models, particularly as enterprises and governments look for alternatives to dominant cloud providers for their most sensitive workloads.

Technical and Financial Trajectory

The new funding significantly strengthens SambaNova's position in a competitive market. CEO Rodrigo Liang indicated that more investors are expected to join in a second close, solidifying the company's financial runway. The company's relationship with Intel, a backer since its Series C and a participant in this round, continues to deepen through a multi-year partnership to co-develop and market AI inference products. This raise follows previous acquisition talks with Intel that valued SambaNova at a much lower $1.6 billion, signaling a strategic decision to pursue growth as an independent entity, with Liang noting the company will likely go "public at some point."

• Series F Funding: $1 billion at an $11 billion valuation.
• Lead Investor: General Atlantic, with participation from new and existing investors including Intel and BlackRock.
• Product Portfolio: Includes the SN40L system, launched in 2023, and the next-generation SN50 chip, which was unveiled in February.
• Strategic Use of Capital: Funds will be used to secure the supply chain and purchase materials needed to fulfill orders over the next year.

Shifting Market Dynamics

A key part of this announcement is SambaNova's selection by JPMorganChase as an inference-infrastructure partner. The bank will deploy SambaNova's systems on-premises to run its AI models securely. Liang highlighted this as a signal to the broader market, particularly the financial industry, that high-value enterprises are now building their own private, heterogeneous infrastructure instead of relying solely on public cloud services. SambaNova is targeting this trend by focusing on three customer segments: sovereign clouds, "neoclouds," and large enterprises building their own AI capabilities.

SambaNova's aggressive fundraising and key enterprise win with JPMorganChase underscore a growing market for specialized, on-premises AI hardware, positioning it as a direct challenger to cloud-centric inference solutions for security-conscious customers.