Vista Equity leads $350M SambaNova AI round

SambaNova Systems has secured $350 million in fresh funding in a round led by Vista Equity Partners, giving the artificial intelligence chip startup new firepower as competition intensifies in the race to power AI applications.

The funding round, announced Tuesday, also drew backing from Cambium Capital and Intel Capital. The deal comes at a time when demand for inference chips has surged, driven by companies seeking faster and more efficient ways to run AI models in real time.

Inference chips are designed to execute trained AI models, enabling applications such as chatbots, recommendation engines and automated decision systems to operate at scale. Investor appetite for alternatives to Nvidia has grown as AI developers look for diversified supply and specialised hardware.

SambaNova said the proceeds will help expand production of its latest AI chip, known as the SN50, while accelerating growth of its cloud-based platform, SambaCloud. The company also plans to deepen integrations with enterprise software providers as it courts large corporate customers.

SoftBank Corp is set to become the first customer to deploy the SN50 chip in its AI data centres in Japan, marking an early validation of the product in a competitive market.

Alongside the funding, SambaNova signed a multi-year agreement with Intel aimed at delivering cost-effective AI inference solutions to AI native companies. The partnership is intended to complement Intel’s existing data centre graphics processing unit commitments and broaden options for enterprise clients.

The new capital arrives after earlier acquisition discussions between SambaNova and Intel did not move forward. Reuters has previously reported that Intel had explored acquiring the startup at a valuation of roughly $1.6 billion, including debt. Intel chief executive Lip Bu Tan also serves as executive chairman of SambaNova, highlighting the close ties between the two companies.