AI chip maker SambaNova raises $1B at $11B valuation, 5 months after last mega round

What happened

SambaNova Systems closed the first tranche of a Series F round, raising $1 billion at an $11 billion valuation. The round is led by General Atlantic with participation from Seligman Ventures, T. Rowe Price, Capital Group, BlackRock, Intel Capital, and the Qatar Investment Authority.

Context and impact

This funding comes five months after a $350M Series E in February 2026 and signals continued investor conviction in Nvidia alternatives for AI inference. Key win: JPMorgan Chase announced deployment of SN40 and SN50 systems for on-premise AI inference in demanding enterprise workloads. SambaNova focuses on on-prem inference deployments — where purpose-built alternative silicon competes most effectively.

Details

• Round: Series F, first close
• Lead: General Atlantic
• Also: T. Rowe Price, BlackRock, Intel Capital, Qatar Investment Authority
• Customer: JPMorgan Chase (deploying SN40 + SN50)
• SN50 chip (Feb 2026): shipments begin H2 2026, SoftBank is first
• Context: Intel was reportedly in talks to acquire SambaNova for ~$1.6B