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By Milana Vinn and Krystal Hu
Feb 6 (Reuters) – Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners is leading a new funding round of more than $350 million in artificial intelligence chip startup SambaNova Systems, marking a rare departure from its traditional focus on enterprise software, according to people familiar with the matter.
Vista, through a partnership with venture capital firm Cambium Capital, is investing in the Series E round for the chipmaker, three sources told Reuters. ‌Other investors in the oversubscribed round include existing backer Intel Corp, which currently plans to invest around $100 million, with potential commitments of up to $150 million, two of the sources said.
The AI ​​computing startup is seeking funding to compete with market leader Nvidia Corp and meet growing demand for inference chips used in AI applications. Reuters could not determine the valuation of the round and sources cautioned that fundraising is ongoing and final terms could change.
Vista, SambaNova and Intel declined to comment. Cambium did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
For Vista, with more than $100 billion in assets and a company that “invests exclusively in enterprise software companies” according to its website, funding the AI ​​chip startup marks a rare move outside its investment focus. The company, known for its large software acquisitions, acquired cloud computing company Citrix Systems in 2022 and software company Nexthink in 2025.
The deal comes as software stocks have come under pressure in recent months as AI has gone from being a tailwind for many of these companies to a potential source of disruption. A global selloff in software stocks this week wiped out nearly $1 trillion in value as investors reassessed valuations.
At the same time, interest in AI hardware has increased following a flurry of deals around Nvidia’s rivals, as AI companies look for chips that can run inference quickly and efficiently.
AI chip maker Cerebras Systems said this week it raised $1 billion in a funding round that valued it at $23 billion. The round was led by Tiger Global and included 1789 Capital, backed by Donald Trump Jr. In December, another SambaNova rival, Groq, struck a deal for Nvidia to license its technology for $20 billion in an all-cash deal and hire much of its team.
OpenAI has held talks with Groq and Cerebras about compute supply deals as the AI ​​lab looks for alternatives to Nvidia GPUs to meet fast inference needs, Reuters previously reported.