SambaNova raises $1B in Series F first close at $11B valuation

In short: AI chip maker SambaNova Systems has raised $1 billion at an $11 billion valuation in the first close of a Series F funding round.

What happened

SambaNova Systems, an AI chip company based in Palo Alto, California, said the new money was led by investment firm General Atlantic. The company called this a “first close,” which means the round is not fully finished yet and more investors may join soon.

CEO and co-founder Rodrigo Liang told TechCrunch that additional investors are expected in the next few weeks, and that a second close should complete the round.

The funding comes about five months after SambaNova announced its SN50 chip and raised a $350 million Series E round in February. A chip is the specialized computer part that helps run AI systems, like a powerful engine that helps a car go faster.

SambaNova has also been linked to Intel in recent months. Bloomberg previously reported that Intel was in talks to buy SambaNova for about $1.6 billion, but Liang said the company still gets approached and has not committed to any specific path.

SambaNova also said JPMorganChase selected it as an “inference-infrastructure partner.” Inference is the step where an AI model answers questions or completes tasks after it has been trained (like using a cookbook after it is written). SambaNova said its systems will support secure, on-premises AI inference at the bank, meaning the AI runs on the bank’s own computers instead of only in a remote cloud data center.

Why it matters

This deal shows how much money is flowing into the hardware needed to run AI. It also highlights a shift where large organizations, including banks, want more control over where their AI runs, especially when dealing with sensitive data.

Source: TechCrunch AI