Intel Takes Major Step in Plan to Acquire Chip Startup SambaNova

Intel has signed a term sheet to acquire the AI chip startup SambaNova Systems, two sources with direct knowledge of the agreement tell WIRED.

The details of the term sheet are unknown. The agreement is nonbinding, meaning the deal is not yet finalized and could be dissolved without penalty. It could take weeks or even months before regulatory approval, liability scrutiny, and financial due diligence are complete.

Intel’s interest in acquiring the startup was first reported by Bloomberg in late October. At the time, the talks were in the early stages. The report noted that SambaNova could sell for less than the $5 billion valuation the company said it had reached in April 2021.

Notably, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan is currently the executive chairman of SambaNova Systems. Intel Capital, which Intel is in the process of spinning off into a stand-alone fund, has also invested in SambaNova Systems. Another investor in SambaNova, Japan’s SoftBank Group, made a major investment in Intel earlier this year.

A spokesperson for SambaNova declined to comment. Intel had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.

SambaNova Systems was founded in 2017 in Palo Alto, California, by Kunle Olukotun, Rodrigo Liang, and Christopher Ré. Olukotun and Ré are Stanford professors; Liang previously worked as an executive at Oracle. SambaNova Systems makes an AI chip platform for inference computing, a process where large language models make predictions from vast amounts of data.

As of early 2025, the startup had raised $1.14 billion in funding, according to PitchBook data. In 2020 it raised $250 million from asset manager BlackRock, Intel Capital, the venture firm GV, and other investors, bringing the startup’s valuation to $2.5 billion. The following year, SambaNova was valued at $5 billion after a massive funding round of $676 million, led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2.

The startup’s implied valuation has dropped since then, with BlackRock reportedly cutting the value of its SambaNova shares by 17 percent over the past year, according to The Information. That likely made it a target for Intel, along with the fact that Intel has lagged the rest of the chip industry in making AI chips.

After taking on the top job earlier this year, Intel CEO Tan said he intends to shore up Intel’s debt, spin off the company’s noncore assets, and shift to AI-first strategies. The troubled chipmaker also received an $8.9 billion infusion of capital from the US government in August, which it plans to use to expand domestic semiconductor manufacturing.