AI chip maker SambaNova Systems has successfully raised $1 billion in the initial close of its Series F funding round, pushing its valuation to $11 billion. This significant investment, led by General Atlantic, comes just five months after the Palo Alto-based company secured a $350 million Series E round. CEO and co-founder Rodrigo Liang indicated that additional investors are expected to join soon in a second close, further boosting the capital.
The proceeds from this funding will be primarily used to scale SambaNova's business operations and to fortify its supply chain. Liang emphasized the urgent need to secure materials to meet what he described as an "incredible wave of demand" and to fulfill orders over the next 12 months. The company also announced that JPMorgan Chase has selected SambaNova as an "inference-infrastructure partner," utilizing their SN40L and SN50 systems for secure, on-premises AI inference. This partnership is seen as a crucial endorsement, particularly for the banking sector, signaling a move away from complete reliance on cloud services for sensitive AI models.
SambaNova, founded in 2017, also has deepened its ties with Intel, a long-standing backer since its Series C round and a participant in this latest funding. The two companies are co-developing products and taking them to market, leveraging Intel's scale with SambaNova's technology. Other notable investors in the Series F round include Seligman Ventures, T. Rowe Price Associates, Capital Group, BlackRock, and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), among others. SambaNova serves various customer segments, including sovereign clouds, neoclouds, and enterprises like Saudi Aramco and Intel, besides JPMorgan Chase.
The company launched its SN40L chip in September 2023, with its next-generation SN50, unveiled in February 2026, set to ship to customers in the second half of 2026, with SoftBank as its first deployment partner. Liang highlighted SambaNova's competitive edge as "premium inference" capable of handling multi-trillion-parameter models on a single rack, enabling fast processing. While interested parties continue to approach SambaNova regarding potential acquisitions, Liang suggested that the company's momentum and growth would likely steer it towards becoming a public entity at some point.
