Intel has signed a time period sheet to accumulate the AI chip startup SambaNova Techniques, two sources with direct data of the settlement inform WIRED.
The main points of the time period sheet are unknown. The settlement is nonbinding, which means the deal isn’t but finalized and could possibly be dissolved with out penalty. It may 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 had been within the early levels. The report famous that SambaNova may promote for lower than the $5 billion valuation the corporate mentioned it had reached in April 2021.
Notably, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan is presently the chief chairman of SambaNova Techniques. Intel Capital, which Intel is within the strategy of spinning off right into a stand-alone fund, has additionally invested in SambaNova Techniques. One other investor in SambaNova, Japan’s SoftBank Group, made a main funding in Intel earlier this yr.
A spokesperson for SambaNova declined to remark. Intel had not responded to requests for remark on the time of publication.
SambaNova Techniques 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 govt at Oracle. SambaNova Techniques 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 $1.14 billion in funding, in response to 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 yr, SambaNova was valued at $5 billion after a large funding spherical of $676 million, led by SoftBank’s Imaginative and prescient Fund 2.
The startup’s implied valuation has dropped since then, with BlackRock reportedly reducing the worth of its SambaNova shares by 17 p.c over the previous yr, in response to The Info. That seemingly 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 up the highest job earlier this yr, Intel CEO Tan mentioned he intends to shore up Intel’s debt, spin off the corporate’s noncore 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.
