SambaNova Systems raised $1 billion in the first close of a Series F round, valuing the AI inference-chip maker at $11 billion — roughly five times its valuation from just a few months earlier. The round was led by General Atlantic, with Intel, T. Rowe Price, Capital Group, BlackRock, Vista Equity Partners and Qatar Investment Authority among the participants.
The raise follows a $350 million Series E in February and comes after Intel's own acquisition talks with SambaNova stalled late last year at a roughly $1.6 billion valuation. CEO Rodrigo Liang said the new capital will scale production and shore up the supply chain to meet a year's worth of order demand.
JPMorgan Chase this week named SambaNova an inference-infrastructure partner, deploying its SN40L and SN50 systems for on-premises AI workloads. Liang said banks increasingly want "heterogeneous infrastructure" instead of full dependence on the cloud for sensitive AI models, positioning SambaNova as one of several startups challenging Nvidia's grip on the inference-chip market. The next-generation SN50 chip is due to ship in the second half of 2026, with SoftBank as its first deployment partner.