Intel Funds SambaNova
Following reports that Intel would acquire AI-chip company SambaNova, chaired by Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who had invested in the startup, the beleagured chipmaker is joining SambaNova's next round and the two companies will develop a cloud service to be run by SambaNova.
A stated reason for the tie up is to participate in heterogenous data centers. Presumably these would use Intel GPUs (should it make a competitive one) for some functions (e.g., training) and SambaNova NPUs for others (e.g., inference, KV cache prefill). A further reason is that, despite SambaNova's limited market traction and other startups flaming out, investor interest remains high for an Nvidia alternative. It could've simply been too expensive for Intel to outright acquire SambaNova. The potential acquisition raised questions about LBT self dealing. He recused himself from recent Intel-SambaNova negotiations, but the ultimate deal does little to ameliorate these concerns.
