Intel has signed a time period sheet to amass the AI chip startup SambaNova Methods, two sources with direct data of the settlement inform WIRED.
The main points of the time period sheet are unknown. The settlement is non-binding, that means the deal will not be but finalized and could possibly be dissolved with out penalty. It might take weeks and even months earlier than regulatory approval, legal responsibility scrutiny, and monetary due diligence are full.
Intel’s curiosity in buying the startup was first reported by Bloomberg in late October. On the time, the talks have been within the early phases. The report famous that SambaNova might promote for lower than the $5 billion valuation it had reached in April 2021.
Notably, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan is presently the chairman of SambaNova Methods. Intel Capital, which Intel is within the means of spinning off right into a standalone fund, has additionally invested in SambaNova Methods. One other investor in SambaNova, Japan’s SoftBank Group, made a main funding in Intel earlier this 12 months.
A spokesperson for SambaNova declined to remark. Intel had not but responded to requests for remark on the time of publication.
SambaNova Methods was based in 2017 in Palo Alto, California by Kunle Olukotun, Rodrigo Liang, and Christopher Ré. Olukotun and Ré are Stanford professors; Liang beforehand labored as an government at Oracle. SambaNova Methods makes an AI chip platform for inference computing, a course of the place giant language fashions make predictions from huge quantities of information.
As of early 2025, the startup had raised a complete of $1.14 billion in funding, based on PitchBook knowledge. In 2020 it raised $250 million from asset supervisor BlackRock, Intel Capital, the enterprise agency GV, and different traders, bringing the startup’s valuation to $2.5 billion. The next 12 months, SambaNova was valued at $5 billion after a large funding spherical of $676 million, led by SoftBank’s Imaginative and prescient Fund 2.
Nonetheless, the startup’s implied valuation has dropped since then, with BlackRock reportedly slicing the worth of its SambaNova shares by 17 % over the previous 12 months, based on The Data. That probably made it a goal for Intel, together with the truth that Intel has lagged the remainder of the chip business in making AI chips.
After taking over the highest job earlier this 12 months, Intel CEO Tan mentioned he intends to shore up Intel’s debt, spin off the corporate’s non-core property, and shift to AI-first methods. The troubled chipmaker additionally obtained an $8.9 billion infusion of capital from the US authorities in August, which it plans to make use of to develop home semiconductor manufacturing.
