US-based AI chip startup SambaNova has secured $1 billion in a Series F funding round, pushing its valuation to $11 billion. The new investment will help the company expand its AI infrastructure platform and meet the rising demand for enterprise AI inference solutions.
The funding round was led by General Atlantic, with participation from Seligman Ventures, T. Rowe Price Associates, and Capital Group. Several existing and new investors also joined the round, including BlackRock, Intel Capital, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Battery Ventures, Temasek, GIC, GV, SK Telecom, and Vista Equity Partners, among others.
Founded in 2017 by Rodrigo Liang, Kunle Olukotun, and Christopher Ré, SambaNova develops its own Reconfigurable Dataflow Units (RDUs) along with a full-stack AI platform built for AI inference. Inference refers to the stage where trained AI models are deployed to perform real-world tasks. The company says its technology offers improved performance and better energy efficiency compared to traditional GPU-based infrastructure for enterprise AI applications.
SambaNova’s AI hardware has already been adopted by major organisations, including Intel and Saudi Aramco, for enterprise computing workloads.
Commenting on the funding, Rodrigo Liang, Co-founder and CEO of SambaNova, said the investment highlights the growing importance of AI inference as enterprises increasingly deploy AI in production. He added that the new capital, along with General Atlantic’s support, will enable the company to speed up innovation and deliver faster, more cost-effective AI infrastructure to customers worldwide.
Earlier this year, SambaNova introduced its SN50 AI chip and announced a separate funding round of more than $350 million alongside a strategic collaboration with Intel.
Martín Escobari, Co-President and Head of Global Growth Equity at General Atlantic, said the investment reflects confidence in SambaNova’s technology and its potential to lead the expanding AI inference market.
Alongside the funding announcement, SambaNova also revealed that JPMorganChase has selected its RDUs for on-premises AI inference, while SoftBank became the first company to deploy the firm’s SN50 AI chip.
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