AI chip company SambaNova Systems has completed the first closing of its Series F funding round, raising $1 billion at a $11 billion valuation. The round is led by General Atlantic, with additional investors expected to join; the second closing is anticipated within the coming weeks.
Founded in 2017, the company specializes in AI inference chips and systems. Management stated that while they continue to receive external acquisition interest, the company is more likely to pursue an IPO in the future rather than sell now, as it expands its operations.
JPMorgan Chase adopts its local inference system
SambaNova disclosed, alongside its funding announcement, that it has been selected by JPMorgan Chase as a "reasoning infrastructure partner." According to the company, JPMorgan Chase will deploy its SN40L and SN50 systems to establish secure, on-premises AI reasoning capabilities within the bank.
The company believes that major financial institutions beginning to build private, controllable inference infrastructure indicates that the banking sector is shifting away from relying solely on cloud services toward more diversified architectural options. Beyond the financial industry, enterprises and government clients are also seen as future growth sources.
Continue deepening collaboration with Intel
SambaNova’s partnership with Intel is also expanding. Intel has been an investor since the Series C round and participated in this financing. Five months ago, the two companies announced a multi-year collaboration focused on developing AI inference solutions based on Intel Xeon chips.
Currently, both companies have entered the phase of jointly developing products and co-launching them in the market. SambaNova believes this helps expand the deployment of its technology by leveraging Intel’s supply chain and market reach.
SN50 deliveries begin in the second half of the year.
On the product side, SambaNova launched the SN40L in September 2023, offering both cloud and on-premises versions. The next-generation SN50 was released in February 2026, with shipments to customers scheduled to begin in the second half of 2026; SoftBank will be the first deployment partner.
The company states that it is positioned for high-performance AI inference, with a focus on supporting cutting-edge models with extremely large parameter scales. According to the company, multi-trillion-parameter models can be deployed within a single rack to enhance runtime speed and deployment efficiency.
SambaNova categorizes its customers into three groups: government-backed sovereign clouds, emerging cloud service providers, and enterprises building their own AI infrastructure. In addition to JPMorgan Chase, the company has mentioned customers including Saudi Aramco, Intel, and several Japanese companies.
The funds will be used to expand production and the supply chain.
The company stated that the funds will primarily be used to scale operations and strengthen supply chain safeguards to meet rapidly growing order demand. Management noted that securing materials and capacity in advance over the next 12 months is essential to support product delivery.
Other institutional investors participating in this funding round include Seligman Ventures, T. Rowe Price Associates, Capital Group, as well as new and existing investors such as BlackRock, Qatar Investment Authority, and Vista Equity Partners.