Renowned chip designer Jim Keller, who has previously worked with Apple, AMD, Tesla, and Intel, announced his move to startup company Tenstorrent in 2021 and has since taken a hiatus.
Most recently, Tenstorrent announced a Series D investment of $693 million, with major investors including Samsung Securities and AFW Partners, along with the unusual addition of Bezos Expeditions, Jeff Bezos’s investment company.
Other notable investors in this round include LG and Hyundai, as well as major fund Fidelity.
Tenstorrent’s product is the AI processing chip called Wormhole, which utilizes RISC-V cores and offers a more cost-effective processing solution compared to GPU. The chip features embedded network chips to expand into a mesh network for wider usability in both desktop and server applications.
Jim Keller, in an interview, mentioned his previous work with closed-system technologies and how his current focus on open-source technology aims to attract a wider range of engineers to the platform. The company revealed contracts with customers exceeding $150 million. The current chip version is manufactured by GlobalFoundries, with the next version slated to utilize the services of TSMC and Samsung.
Source: Tenstorrent, Bloomberg
TLDR: Jim Keller moves to Tenstorrent, a startup company, and secures a significant investment, with unique participation from Bezos Expeditions. Tenstorrent produces a cost-effective AI processing chip called Wormhole, with plans for future collaborations with top manufacturing companies.
Leave a Comment