Overview
- Intel Capital is joining SambaNova’s $350 million Series E as the companies plan a multi-year collaboration to pair the startup’s systems with Xeon-based infrastructure and Intel GPUs, including hardware–software co-design and joint go-to-market.
- SambaNova introduced the SN50 accelerator with claims of 2.5x higher FP16 and 5x higher FP8 performance versus its prior generation, a three-tier memory design, and scale-up to 256 processors.
- The company says SN50 can deliver higher per-user generation speed than Nvidia’s B200 systems and provide more compute per dollar, with shipments expected later in 2026.
- SoftBank was named an early SN50 deployer for next‑generation AI data centers, adding a notable service-provider reference customer to SambaNova’s roster.
- Intel said the tie-up complements its data center GPU efforts; Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, SambaNova’s chairman since 2017, recused himself from talks, and earlier reports said acquisition discussions around $1.6 billion fell through.