Intel Eyes AI-chip Startup SambaNova for Strategic Boost

Intel is in early discussions to acquire AI chipmaker SambaNova Systems. According to Bloomberg, the talks are still preliminary, and sources emphasized that there’s no guarantee a deal will be reached or that another buyer couldn’t still emerge.

A SambaNova spokesperson said the company “is always looking at strategic opportunities that support its mission and stakeholders,” but declined to comment further. Intel also declined to comment.

Deal valuation and background

If the deal does happen, SambaNova would likely be valued below the $5 billion it reached in a 2021 funding round led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund. Founded in 2017 by Stanford University professors, including a MacArthur “Genius” Award winner, SambaNova designs custom chips built to handle the heavy lifting of artificial intelligence.

Intel already knows the company well. CEO Lip-Bu Tan served as SambaNova’s executive chairman before joining Intel and continues to hold the title of chairman. His venture capital firm, Walden International, was one of SambaNova’s earliest backers, leading its $56 million Series A round in 2018. Intel Capital and SoftBank are also among SambaNova’s investors.

A move to strengthen Intel’s AI position

For Intel, buying SambaNova could give its AI strategy the much-needed traction it needs. The company has had a few false starts in the race to compete with Nvidia, which still dominates the market for training massive AI models. SambaNova, meanwhile, has carved out its niche in inference, enabling it to run trained models quickly and efficiently at scale.

That’s a space Intel is definitely chomping at the bit to compete in. The company recently came out with plans for a new data center GPU called Crescent Island, expected in 2026. At the Open Compute Summit, Intel CTO Sachin Katti described the next phase of AI infrastructure as “heterogeneous systems tailored to specific tasks,” moving away from the old one-size-fits-all chip design.

Bringing SambaNova’s hardware and cloud offerings into Intel’s ecosystem could help give it a push. SambaNova already offers AI inference products as both cloud and on-premises services, giving customers flexibility in how they run large-scale models.

What’s next

Whether Intel’s interest results in a deal remains to be seen, but the timing once again highlights how fiercely competitive the AI-chip race has become.

As one insider told Bloomberg, “Deliberations are in the early stages and there’s no certainty the companies will reach an agreement.”

If talks continue, the acquisition could give Intel a much-needed foothold in high-performance AI systems, and give SambaNova the stability it needs to keep building chips meant to rival the biggest players in the game.

Intel’s push into AI doesn’t stop at chip design. The company recently partnered with NetApp to launch the NetApp AIPod Mini, a compact data infrastructure solution designed to simplify enterprise AI deployment and inference. The partnership reflects Intel’s broader effort to strengthen its end-to-end AI ecosystem.