Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 24, 2026
2 min readLast updated: April 2, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleSambaNova raised $350M led by Vista and Cambium, with Intel Capital joining. The startup also signed a multi-year Intel deal to scale SN50 inference chips; SoftBank will be an early deployer in Japan.
Feb 24 (Reuters) - SambaNova Systems said on Tuesday it has raised $350 million in a new funding round and struck a partnership with Intel as it seeks to capitalise on surging demand for inference chips used in artificial intelligence applications.
Inference chips, which run AI models and power real-time decisions, have attracted intense investor interest following a wave of dealmaking around rivals to Nvidia, as AI companies seek faster and more efficient hardware.
Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners and Cambium Capital led the round, which also included Intel's investment arm, Intel Capital, SambaNova said on Tuesday, confirming a Reuters exclusive reported earlier this month.
The proceeds will fund expansion of SambaNova's new SN50 AI chip, scale its SambaCloud platform and deepen enterprise software integrations. SoftBank Corp will be the first customer to deploy the SN50 chip within its AI data centres in Japan.
SambaNova and Intel also signed a multi-year agreement to deliver cost-effective AI inference solutions for AI-native companies, complementing Intel's existing data centre GPU commitments.
The investment marks a rare foray by Vista beyond its traditional focus on enterprise software.
The funding comes after acquisition talks between SambaNova and Intel stalled. Intel, whose chief executive Lip-Bu Tan also serves as SambaNova's executive chairman, had previously discussed acquiring the startup for roughly $1.6 billion, including debt, Reuters has reported.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
SambaNova secured $350M in new funding and signed a multi‑year Intel partnership to accelerate AI inference adoption, focusing on the SN50 chip and its cloud platform. ()
The round was led by Vista Equity Partners and Cambium Capital, with Intel Capital participating alongside other investors. (finance.yahoo.com)
SambaNova and Intel agreed to a multi‑year collaboration featuring co‑selling and co‑marketing to deliver cost‑effective, cloud‑scale AI inference solutions. (intelcapital.com)
SoftBank Corp will be an early customer, with SN50 shipments and deployments expected later this year in Japan’s AI data centers. (theregister.com)
Yes. Prior acquisition discussions reportedly stalled after considering a deal around $1.6B including debt, preceding this funding and partnership. (investing.com)
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