Key Highlights
- Intel has committed to participate in SambaNova Systems’ $350M funding round for the AI chip developer.
- A multiyear commercial partnership will see SambaNova utilize Intel’s server processors and GPU technology.
- Intel’s CEO Lip-Bu Tan has served as SambaNova’s board chairman since 2017 and had pursued a $1.6B acquisition.
- The newly unveiled SN50 processor is positioned to deliver superior performance versus Nvidia’s B200 architecture at reduced costs.
- SoftBank has secured priority access to deploy SN50 systems within its Japanese AI data center operations.
Intel is backing AI chip manufacturer SambaNova Systems through participation in a $350 million Series E investment round — while simultaneously establishing a commercial alliance between the two firms.
The collaborative arrangement will see SambaNova integrate Intel’s server processors and graphics processing units throughout a multiyear commercial agreement, providing Intel with enhanced access to AI infrastructure markets.
The investment comes after unsuccessful takeover negotiations. Intel had previously pursued an acquisition of SambaNova valued at approximately $1.6 billion including outstanding debt, though these discussions ultimately collapsed, as reported by Bloomberg and Reuters in January.
Intel’s CEO Lip-Bu Tan has served on SambaNova’s board as chairman since 2017, following an initial investment by his venture capital firm Walden International alongside Google Ventures. According to an Intel company representative, Tan removed himself from the partnership negotiations.
SN50 Positions Against Nvidia
SambaNova has unveiled the SN50, a processor that the company claims provides five times greater computational capacity per accelerator unit and quadruple the network throughput compared to earlier generations.
CEO Rodrigo Liang stated to CNBC that the SN50 surpasses the performance of graphics processors found in Nvidia’s B200 Blackwell platform while delivering superior price-performance ratios. The architecture supports interconnection of up to 256 processing units.
SoftBank, already a SambaNova client, has secured initial deployment rights for the SN50 within its next-generation artificial intelligence data center facilities across Japan.
Intel’s AI Market Strategy
Intel’s annual revenue has contracted for four consecutive years as Nvidia ascended to become the world’s highest-valued publicly listed corporation fueled by AI accelerator demand.
Intel shares have surged 75% during the past twelve months, propelled primarily by federal government funding commitments and Nvidia-linked business agreements. The chipmaker is simultaneously developing proprietary graphics card technology, which Tan discussed at a recent Cisco corporate event.
Additional participants in the Series E investment include Vista Equity Partners, Cambium Capital, Battery Ventures, and investment accounts managed by T. Rowe Price.
SambaNova’s client roster includes Hugging Face, Meta, and prominent AI research organizations, while the company continues expanding its proprietary cloud platform for AI model deployment.
Liang maintained realistic expectations regarding execution: “We’re not doing all this overnight. It’s something that we are doing some good planning work to make sure that we’re actually working this out.”
Intel Capital appears among the strategic investors participating in this funding round.
