Intel tried to buy SambaNova for $1.6 billion. The AI chip maker just raised $1 billion at an $11 billion valuation, according to TechCrunch—making Intel's reported bid look inadequate. Intel is a backer in this new funding round.
The Series F first close, led by General Atlantic, came five months after SambaNova unveiled its SN50 chip and closed a $350 million Series E in February. CEO and co-founder Rodrigo Liang told TechCrunch that more investors are coming in the coming weeks, with a second close expected soon. The valuation could climb higher.
When asked if these mega rounds meant SambaNova was staying independent, Liang said the company "keeps fielding interest" and the "door is open" to an exit, but momentum is pushing them toward going public. He was noncommittal—the kind of response that suggests interest in offers but preference for remaining autonomous.
SambaNova landed JPMorgan Chase as a major inference-infrastructure partner, deploying its SN40L and SN50 systems for secure, on-premises AI processing at the bank. Liang framed this as evidence that major financial institutions are building private AI infrastructure instead of outsourcing to the cloud. Enterprise and government customers are willing to pay for specialized, secure AI hardware. The win supports an $11 billion valuation, especially with the next-generation SN50 set to ship in the second half of 2026 with SoftBank as the first deployment partner.
SambaNova is positioning itself as a bridge between Nvidia-dominated cloud infrastructure and the emerging "heterogeneous computing" trend. Banks, enterprises, and governments want alternatives to NVIDIA and cloud providers. SambaNova is capturing that shift, and investors are betting it will become a multi-billion-dollar independent business rather than an Intel acquisition.
The relationship with Intel has deepened. The two co-develop products and go to market together based on Intel's Xeon chip. This partnership lets SambaNova leverage Intel's scale while keeping its independence. Intel stayed invested without writing a check that would have undervalued the company by roughly 6.8x.
