SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 4, 2026--
SambaNova, the leading AI inference company, today announced that Mohsen Moazami has joined as Vice Chair of Global Strategy and Partnerships. Reporting to the CEO, Rodrigo Liang, Moazami will help accelerate SambaNova’s expansion across global enterprise, government, and sovereign AI markets.
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Moazami's appointment follows SambaNova's Series F financing at an $11B valuation. With a growing roster of sovereign AI deployments, the company is scaling rapidly across enterprise, government, and service provider markets globally.
“AI infrastructure is entering a new operating phase,” said Rodrigo Liang, co-founder and CEO of SambaNova. “Customers are no longer asking whether AI works. They’re asking how to run it securely, profitably and at scale. Mohsen has helped build global technology businesses through exactly these kinds of transitions, and his experience across enterprise, government, sovereign and capital markets will be critical as SambaNova scales.”
Moazami brings decades of operating, investing and international market-building experience. Most recently, he served in the Office of the CEO and was President of International at Groq, where he led global commercial and sovereign market expansion culminating in the company's landmark $20 billion strategic transaction. He is also Vice Chair of DDN, the AI data platform provider, where he strengthens the company’s customer, government and sovereign engagements worldwide.
“SambaNova has reached the point every category-defining technology company works toward: the market need is clear, the technology is validated, and the capital is in place to scale,” said Mohsen Moazami. “Production inference is becoming one of the most important infrastructure markets in the world. SambaNova is uniquely positioned to serve enterprises, governments and sovereign AI programs that need performance, control and better economics.”
About SambaNova
SambaNova is a leader in next‑generation AI infrastructure, providing a full stack platform that powers efficient AI inference for enterprises, NeoClouds, AI labs and service providers, and sovereign AI initiatives worldwide. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., SambaNova delivers chips, systems, and cloud services that enable customers to deploy state‑of‑the‑art models with superior performance, lower total cost of ownership, and rapid time to value.
For more information, visit sambanova.ai or follow SambaNova on X and LinkedIn.
"SambaNova's recent momentum in AI, including its leadership in disaggregated inference, demonstrates the growing demand for efficient, scalable AI solutions around the world,” said Lip-Bu Tan, Chairperson of SambaNova. “Mohsen brings an exceptional combination of strategic insight, operational leadership, and deep relationships across enterprise, government, and sovereign AI markets, making him uniquely suited to help guide the next phase of SambaNova’s growth. Together, SambaNova's innovation and Mohsen's proven ability to build transformative partnerships will accelerate the global expansion and broaden the impact of AI worldwide."
GENEVA (AP) — Two senior FIFA executives — coaching great Arsène Wenger and CEO-like secretary general Mattias Grafström — distanced themselves Tuesday from their boss Gianni Infantino’s failed plan to sell stakes in future World Cup profits to private investors.
Wenger said in a statement he knew nothing of the $20 billion plan and that it was “absolutely necessary” to drop the proposal, and Grafström sent an email to all FIFA staff — seen by The Associated Press — calling the last week a “sad and reproachable series of events.” He also said it created “turmoil which is difficult to comprehend and accept.”
Neither directly named Infantino or offered support for the now-embattled president.
The comments by Wenger and Grafström had echoes of the direct criticism from FIFA chief operating officer Kevin Lamour, who said Friday that staff had been “deceived” by Infantino's private equity plan, which provoked a furor in global soccer. Lamour called it the "project of one person” and said FIFA staff “deserve better than contempt and intimidation.”
The three executives are respected and trusted figures among the 211 FIFA member federations who now hold sway over Infantino's grip on a presidency that looked unshakeable after the World Cup ended barely two weeks ago.
Wenger, Grafström and Lamour also were named in a letter from UEFA’s lawyers to Infantino among 18 executives whose data and communications should be retained as potential evidence.
“You do not need to worry,” Grafström wrote Tuesday to the hundreds of FIFA staff based mostly in Zurich and Coral Gables, Florida. “I assure you that you as members of the administration, you will be defended and safeguarded from the political context we currently experience.”
Wenger, who was hired by Infantino in 2019 and is FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development, said he was “not involved in this strategic plan and first became aware of the project through media reports.”
Infantino withdrew his $20 billion proposal early Saturday after a furious backlash by global soccer officials, including European body UEFA warning of a boycott of all FIFA games and events.
The plan would have created a subsidiary — known as FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) — to run the money-making parts of the not-for-profit soccer body’s work: organizing tournaments like the World Cup, selling broadcasting and sponsorship rights, tickets and hospitality.
It proposed raising $4.2 billion from investors by selling stakes amounting to about 20% in FFE, based on an equity valuation of $20 billion. The “anchor investor” would have been Thrive Eternal, launched by Joshua Kushner, whose brother Jared Kushner is a son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“The decision to withdraw the project was absolutely necessary and beyond question, because I firmly believe in an independent FIFA that serves our game with commitment, transparency, and integrity,” Wenger wrote.
FIFA’s 211 member federations — already effective owners of the governing body as a nonprofit association under Swiss law — were offered $20 million each. The deadline to accept was Sept. 19.
They also were promised a doubling of their FIFA funding for the four years through 2030 to $20 million instead of the previously announced $10 million.
Infantino shared details of the project to FIFA management just one week after the July 19 final of the financially successful World Cup in North America that drove FIFA's revenues to $15 billion for the 2023-26 commercial cycle — almost double the income tied to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Grafström, a long-time loyal aide to Infantino since their work together at UEFA, urged FIFA staff to “all continue being proud and happy” about the first 48-team World Cup.
“A sad and reproachable series of events — which were thankfully concluded with the FFE project permanently abandoned — for as much as we feel dismayed by them, should not overshadow this reality,” he wrote.
The World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico was judged a success on the field, though it had unprecedented issues linked to Infantino's close ally Trump, who received a specially created FIFA Peace Prize at the tournament draw in December.
During the tournament, Iran's team could not stay in the U.S. where it played three games, a Somali referee picked by FIFA was refused entry, and U.S. forward Folarin Balogun was allowed to play against Belgium despite a red card in his previous game.
“We have all been thrown into the middle of a turmoil, which is difficult to comprehend and accept, but, as secretary general, I urge you to remain focused on what has always united us,” Grafström wrote. “I will continue to support our teams, our work and our mission every hour of every day for as long as my work is valued by those we serve.”
Infantino has not commented in public on the schism in soccer since a FIFA statement early Saturday announcing that the proposal had been dropped. His official Instagram account has posted letters of support from several member federations, including 2030 World Cup co-host Morocco, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Infantino has been president of FIFA for more than 10 years and had seemed sure to be re-elected unopposed next March in Morocco. FIFA has set a Nov. 18 deadline for challengers to come forward, with Sweden's soccer leader saying Monday that UEFA is seeking a rival candidate.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and AP World Cup coverage
FILE - FIFA President Gianni Infantino gestures as he meets the media at the FIFA World Cup closing press conference in Doha, Qatar, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)
FILE - FIFA president Gianni Infantino, right, and Arsene Wenger, Chief Officer (FIFA) and former soccer coach arrive for the Women's Euro 2025 quarterfinals soccer match between Sweden and England at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich, Switzerland, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)
