SambaNova Systems Inc announced the first close of its Series F funding round on August 10, 2026, raising $1 billion and valuing the company at $11 billion. The round was led by General Atlantic, reflecting strong investor demand for chip startups challenging Nvidia’s dominance in AI workloads [1, 2, 3].
The Palo Alto-based startup focuses on AI inference chips designed for enterprise and government customers building private, secure on-premises AI infrastructure rather than relying solely on cloud services [2, 3]. SambaNova’s chips, including the SN40 and recently released SN50, aim to accelerate the decode portion of AI inference five to ten times faster than Nvidia GPUs, complementing rather than replacing existing hardware [1, 3].
JPMorgan Chase selected SambaNova as a partner to deploy its AI chips for secure, on-premises AI inference workloads. Rodrigo Liang, CEO of SambaNova, described the partnership as significant, saying it sends a message to the banking sector about diversifying infrastructure beyond cloud providers [1, 2, 3]. Liang stated, "Having JPMorgan Chase decide they’re going to use SambaNova for their inference solution is a big deal. It sends a message to the banking industry that it’s time not to completely depend on cloud services. These banks want heterogeneous [infrastructure]." [2]
Founded in 2017 by three former Stanford students, SambaNova has attracted longstanding support from Intel, which has backed the company since its Series C round and participated in the latest funding. Intel and SambaNova maintain a multi-year partnership to co-develop AI inference technologies [1, 2, 3]. In late 2025, SambaNova held acquisition talks with Intel valued around $1.6 billion but remains independent for now [1, 2].
The Series F round follows a $350 million Series E financing announced in February 2026 alongside the launch of the SN50 chip [2, 3]. CEO Liang noted that while SambaNova is open to acquisition offers, the company’s current momentum and growth could eventually lead to an initial public offering. "We’re always being approached. The door is open to such an exit in this dynamic AI market, but momentum and growth will most likely drive the company toward ‘being public at some point,’" he said [2].
SambaNova’s recent funding and high-profile partnerships signal heightened interest from investors and customers seeking alternatives to traditional GPU-centric AI infrastructure. The company aims to expand deployments across enterprise and government sectors that require secure, fast, and scalable on-premises AI capabilities.
SambaNova is expected to continue developing next-generation inference chips and deepening integrations with key customers and partners, including JPMorgan Chase and Intel, in the months ahead [1, 2, 3].
