SambaNova is preparing to raise $800 million to $1 billion in a new funding round, according to Executive Chairman Lip-Bu Tan and sources cited by The Information. The round would value the AI chip startup at approximately $10 billion, a dramatic jump from its $2 billion valuation just four months ago.

Demand for AI server chips that can effectively compete with Nvidia's has never been higher, as developers and cloud providers scramble for lower-cost alternatives. SambaNova's surge reflects the broader market frenzy for hardware that can handle the voracious computational demands of generative AI models.

No exact dollar amount has been finalized, with sources describing the target range as $800 million to $1 billion. If completed at the upper end, it would be one of the largest private financings in the semiconductor space this year.

The capital would fuel SambaNova's efforts to challenge Nvidia's dominant position in AI training and inference chips. The company will need to demonstrate it can deliver competitive performance at scale to justify its new valuation.

Some analysts remain skeptical about long-term demand for alternative chips, noting Nvidia's entrenched software ecosystem and massive data center partnerships provide a formidable moat.