---
title: "Sequoia's Disloyalty and the New God of AI: Silicon Valley Investment Discipline Dies in 2026"
description: "Sequoia Capital, once a paragon of loyalty in Silicon Valley's venture capital landscape, has shifted its investment strategy in the AI sector. In 2020, Sequoia withdrew from investing in Finix to hon"
type: "news"
locale: "en"
url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/273968418.md"
published_at: "2026-01-28T09:35:50.000Z"
---

# Sequoia's Disloyalty and the New God of AI: Silicon Valley Investment Discipline Dies in 2026

> Sequoia Capital, once a paragon of loyalty in Silicon Valley's venture capital landscape, has shifted its investment strategy in the AI sector. In 2020, Sequoia withdrew from investing in Finix to honor its commitment to Stripe, but by 2026, it is now engaging with major AI players like OpenAI and Anthropic. This change reflects a broader trend in the industry, where traditional loyalty rules are being replaced by a strategy of covering all potential winners in the rapidly evolving AI market. Sequoia's new approach emphasizes adaptability and systemic trust over strict competition boundaries.

The End of the Classical Era: Finix's Test of Loyalty>

In early 2020, the venture capital industry in Silicon Valley still followed a set of unwritten rules that had been in place for decades. In this system, a near-feudal relationship of loyalty formed between capital and startups: Once a top venture capital firm selects a "champion" in a particular sector, it pours resources, connections, and reputation into that partnership, forming a deep bond. In return, they promise not to fund the company's direct competitors—an ironclad discipline of loyalty and boundaries.

Sequoia Capital at that time was the perfect embodiment of this classical order. As Silicon Valley's most legendary venture capital firm, its authority came not only from its track record of turning lead into gold, but also from its mastery and adherence to these ethical rules.

In Sequoia's philosophy, clear boundaries are the foundation for building long-term trust, while ambiguous stances are the most dangerous poison in a network of relationships. It was against this backdrop that Sequoia faced a classic test. A startup called Finix came into Sequoia's view. Finix provided "payment infrastructure as a service," helping companies quickly embed payment processing functionality into their products. The problem was that this was precisely the core area of ​​payment giant Stripe—and Sequoia was one of Stripe's earliest and most important investors. According to the rules of the game in Silicon Valley at the time, investing in Finix would constitute a direct betrayal of Stripe. Media reports revealed Sequoia's final decision: to gracefully withdraw from negotiations, relinquishing potential board seats and financial rewards. This was not a simple trade relinquishment, but a public declaration of loyalty. At that time, Sequoia acted like a feudal lord, clearly aware of the boundaries of its territory and understanding that protecting existing relationships was far more important than seizing new opportunities. This restraint was not weakness, but a strength built on long-term strategic wisdom. The Breakdown of Rules: Sequoia's Three AI Trump Cards Four years is enough time to change dynasties in the tech world. When Sequoia sits at the negotiating table with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Elon Musk's xAI in 2026, the Sequoia that abandoned Finix in 2020 due to "potential competition" will seem like a distant memory. According to reports from the Financial Times and other authoritative media outlets, Sequoia Capital is deeply involved in a capital strategy that could reshape the global AI landscape: Building on its already significant investments in OpenAI and xAI, Sequoia is about to join a new round of investment in Anthropic. This round of financing targets a valuation of $350 billion—just four months ago, the company's valuation was "only" $170 billion. Even more noteworthy is the lineup of investors: Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and US hedge fund Coatue each led the investment with $1.5 billion, while Microsoft and Nvidia pledged up to $15 billion, creating a grand picture of industrial and financial capital jointly betting. Sequoia Capital, a veteran Silicon Valley venture capital firm, no longer avoids conflict but systematically positions itself with all major AI players; it no longer chooses sides in the competition but attempts to become a holder of all sides. The once clear red line—"not to cooperate with direct competitors of existing portfolio companies"—has been completely erased and redrawn in the AI ​​era. This shift, seemingly sudden, is actually a rational choice in the face of the unique AI landscape. The core competency of traditional venture capital is "identifying patterns in uncertainty," but in the race of large models, the old evaluation framework has almost entirely failed. The AI ​​competition is a multi-dimensional, multi-stage, complex war: battles for underlying computing power, innovation in algorithm architecture, construction of data ecosystems, security and ethical dilemmas, and adaptation to regulatory policies… When uncertainty reaches this level, the optimal strategy shifts from “choosing the winner” to “covering all possible nodes.” Sequoia’s investment logic in the AI ​​field is no longer the traditional venture capital “horse racing,” but more like “buying a permanent seat in the casino”—it realizes that as intelligence becomes an infrastructure like electricity, what matters is not which company ultimately wins, but ensuring that it can stay at the table no matter what. Managing Conflict: Sequoia’s New Rules of the Game in AI Investment The phenomenal doubling of Anthropic’s valuation in four months reveals a profound shift in the capital market’s evaluation standards for AI companies. On the surface, the soaring valuation is directly related to revenue growth—the company's annualized revenue jumped from $1 billion to $10 billion. But the deeper driving force is an asset being repriced: systemic trust. Against the backdrop of rapid technological convergence, the core capability gap between various models is narrowing on a monthly basis. As the window of opportunity for technological advantage shortens, the decisive factor in competition shifts from a "performance race" in the laboratory to a "race to adopt" in the real world. The decisive factor is no longer "whose technology is stronger," but "who can be more safely, reliably, and compliantly adopted by governments, banks, hospitals, and multinational corporations." Anthropic's "Constitutional AI" framework—a method for enabling AI systems to align values ​​through human feedback and principle-based self-correction—while technically complex, sends a clear political signal: this is a company that prioritizes security, transparency, and controllability. This positioning precisely addresses the deepest concerns of corporate clients, government regulators, and the public. The massive investments by industry giants like Microsoft and Nvidia are essentially a vote for this "cooperability." They need more than just financial returns; they need a reliable, stable, and ethically sound partner to ensure the future of AI infrastructure. Sequoia's involvement adds financial capital backing to this trust, creating a complete chain of legitimacy. This means that the core competencies of top venture capitalists have been redefined. In the classical era, avoiding conflicts of interest was a professional virtue; in the AI ​​era, precisely managing multiple conflicts has become a rarer, more fundamental professional skill. What Sequoia is doing goes far beyond simply betting on a few more competitors—it is completing a paradigm shift in venture capital operations: from finding a single battlefield to learning to maintain a delicate balance across all fronts in a global war.

## **Building a new temple on the ruins of the old gods**

Sequoia's turnaround is a rational transgression of capital. It has personally dismantled the classical order based on loyalty, and instead built a capitalist empire with itself as the hub.

## Building a new temple on the ruins of the old gods

< This seemingly rational choice is giving rise to the most irrational future. When all top-tier capital adopts the same multilateral betting logic, the result will be a structural monopoly of innovation—a few institutions, through cross-shareholding, will effectively control the resource channels for all technological routes. Disruptive ideas not included in the capital map face a "resource death sentence" from their inception. A deeper transformation lies in the metamorphosis of the nature of power. When Sequoia Capital sits at the table alongside OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI, it has transformed from a "coach on the field" into a "league manager who controls all team tactics." The competition continues, but the rules have been redefined. Top-tier capital no longer predicts the future; instead, it meticulously lays the structural foundation for the future itself. While we marvel at sky-high valuations, we should be even more wary of the fact that the power to decide what deserves value is concentrating at an unprecedented rate at the center of the table.

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> **Disclaimer**: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.