Intel, which has lagged in making chips for artificial intelligence, is turning for help to a start-up that its chief executive helps lead as an investor and chairman.
The ailing Silicon Valley chip company has struck a multiyear technical partnership with SambaNova Systems, a nine-year-old semiconductor company that is aiming to challenge the market leader, Nvidia. Intel and SambaNova will work on developing a cloud A.I. service run by SambaNova, among other things, the companies said on Tuesday.
Intel said it would also contribute an undisclosed amount to a $350 million funding round in SambaNova, which it announced along with a new line of A.I. chips. Intel had previously discussed buying SambaNova.
The collaboration may attract attention for how Intel manages the multiple roles of its chief executive since March, Lip-Bu Tan. Mr. Tan, a prolific venture capitalist, was among SambaNova’s early investors as well as its chairman.
Some former Intel executives have expressed surprise that the company’s directors did not seek to limit Mr. Tan from profiting from Intel acquisitions or other deals in the sector. But Intel said Mr. Tan’s connections were a valuable asset and chose to restrict his involvement in negotiating transactions affecting his financial interests.
In the SambaNova case, Intel said, Mr. Tan recused himself; talks were overseen by Kevork Kechichian, who joined Intel in September as an executive vice president in charge of its data center group.
“We have well-established governance procedures to ensure decisions are made in Intel’s best interests,” a company spokesman said.
Nvidia’s success in A.I. chips has spawned many start-ups, which have taken years to gain traction. Lately, some big companies have taken steps to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. OpenAI, a longtime Nvidia customer, announced a deal last month to also use chips from Cerebras, a prominent start-up.
With their collaboration, Intel and SambaNova hope to tap into that trend. “The intent is to shape the next generation of heterogeneous A.I. data centers,” the Intel spokesman said.
(The New York Times has sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, over copyright infringement claims. Both companies have denied wrongdoing.)
SambaNova, which has raised $1.4 billion including the latest infusion, has had to adjust its business model multiple times.
Like Nvidia, SambaNova offers A.I. services and sells entire systems — typically in racks larger than a refrigerator — instead of just chips. In most cases, those systems come with standard microprocessors from Advanced Micro Devices. Intel Xeon chips will now be part of those offerings under the new relationship.
SambaNova and Intel would not discuss prior takeover talks. Rodrigo Liang, SambaNova’s chief executive, said sales and investor interest had been so strong lately that raising more funding as an independent company made the most sense.
“It was very quickly obvious to all of us that that was the best path for the company,” he said.
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