Upper90 Collateralizes $400M Loan Against Inference Chips, Not GPUs — a First

Upper90, which pioneered chip-collateralized lending with Crusoe's GPU purchases in 2021, has extended a $400 million loan to inference neocloud General Compute, secured against SambaNova SN50 inference chips rather than GPUs. The deal, reported July 17, 2026, is believed to be the first financing arrangement to use purpose-built inference silicon as collateral, establishing a precedent for the neocloud sector.