AI chip startup SambaNova raises $1B at $11B valuation, announces JPMorgan partnership

SambaNova Systems, an AI chip and systems company, has secured $1 billion in funding at an $11 billion valuation in the first close of its Series F round, led by General Atlantic. According to CEO and co-founder Rodrigo Liang, additional investors are expected to join in the coming weeks, completing the second close. The round comes about five months after the company unveiled its SN50 chip and closed a $350 million Series E in February 2026.

Liang remained noncommittal about the company's independence, noting that SambaNova is constantly being approached for acquisition. However, he indicated that the momentum and growth likely point toward an eventual initial public offering. The startup has deepened its ties with Intel, a backer since Series C, and the two now co-develop products and go to market together.

Alongside the funding, SambaNova announced that JPMorganChase has selected it as an "inference-infrastructure partner." The bank will use SambaNova's SN40L and SN50 systems to run secure, on-premises AI inference. Liang called this a significant signal to the banking industry, highlighting that major banks are now building their own private infrastructure for sensitive models rather than relying solely on cloud services.

SambaNova focuses on "premium inference" for the largest AI models, fitting multi-trillion-parameter models onto a single rack for fast performance. The company serves three customer segments: sovereign clouds, neoclouds, and enterprises (including Saudi Aramco, Intel, and Japanese firms). The new capital will be used to scale operations and secure the supply chain amid surging demand.