Rival AI chip start-ups are rising to challenge Nvidia as consumers such as OpenAI look for variety when it comes to sourcing advanced AI semiconductors.

Reuters exclusively reported last Friday (6 February) that the Intel-backed AI chip start-up SambaNova Systems is raising more than $350m in an oversubscribed Series E round led by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners through a partnership with Cambium Capital.

Early backer Intel is planning to invest around $100m, with potential commitments of up to $150m, sources told the publication.

Investment from Intel comes after the company was planning to acquire SambaNova for around $1.6bn last year, according to Bloomberg. Wired reported in December last year that Intel signed a term sheet to acquire SambaNova. However, those talks have stalled.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan serves as chair of SambaNova’s board. Moreover, Intel Capital – which announced a separation from its chipmaking parent last year – has also invested in the start-up. Other investors in SambaNova include Japan’s SoftBank Group, which recently invested $2bn into Intel.

SambaNova Systems was founded in 2017 by Kunle Olukotun, Rodrigo Liang, and Christopher Ré. The company makes an AI chip platform for inference computing.

Liang, who previously worked as an executive at cloud provider Oracle, commented in 2024 that Nvidia “lost some of its sheen” and that “rivals are biting at its heels”.

Although Nvidia has bounced back strong since then, by exceeding revenue expectations and hitting an historic $5trn market value last year, newer chipmakers are getting increasing attention as potential alternatives.

Last week, Cerebras Systems, which also positions itself as a rival to Nvidia, raised $1bn in a Series H round led by Tiger Global with participation from AMD. The round valued the business at $23bn.

Last month, Cerebras and its early-backer OpenAI announced a partnership to deploy 750MW of Cerebras’s wafer-scale systems to make OpenAI’s chatbots faster.

Meanwhile, Positron, another Nvidia competitor that offers energy-efficient AI chips for inference, raised $230m from Arm Holdings and the Qatar Investment Authority last week, raising its valuation above $1bn.

In December, Nvidia acquired the assets of one of its rising competitors, Groq, for around $20bn. The deal will see Groq helping Nvidia advance and scale its licensed technology, but the start-up will continue on as an independent business. Groq opened its first European data centre in Finland earlier last year.