Tenstorrent secures $100m funding from Hyundai, Kia, and Samsung

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【Summary】Tenstorrent, an AI and RISC-V chip company, has raised $100m in investment from Hyundai, Kia, Samsung, and other investors. The funds will be used to develop scalable AI accelerators and a RISC-V CPU to compete with Nvidia's GPUs. Hyundai plans to use Tenstorrent designs in future vehicles, following its establishment of a semiconductor development group. Tenstorrent has already raised $234.5m in previous funding rounds and plans to hold another equity fundraising round next year.

FutureCar Staff Aug 14, 2023 10:17 AM PT

Tenstorrent secures $100m funding from Hyundai, Kia, and Samsung

Tenstorrent, an AI and RISC-V startup, recently secured a significant investment to further its growth and development. Prior to this deal, the company had already raised $234.5 million with a valuation of $1 billion in its previous round. The investment was structured as a debt that will convert to stock at a later date.

Tenstorrent specializes in building scalable artificial intelligence accelerators for both the cloud and Edge, aiming to compete with Nvidia's GPUs. Additionally, the company is working on developing a RISC-V CPU and licenses its designs to other companies.

In this latest investment round, Tenstorrent raised $30 million from South Korean automotive manufacturer Hyundai and $20 million from Hyundai-subsidiary Kia. Samsung's Catalyst Fund contributed $50 million, and other investors included Fidelity Ventures, Eclipse Ventures, Epiq Capital, and Maverick Capital.

As part of the deal, Hyundai announced that it plans to incorporate Tenstorrent designs in future Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis vehicles. This collaboration comes after Hyundai launched its own semiconductor development group last year. Furthermore, Tenstorrent signed a deal earlier this year with LG to integrate its chips into smart TVs.

Jim Keller, CEO of Tenstorrent, expressed gratitude for the trust shown by Hyundai Motor Group and Samsung Catalyst Fund in leading the investment round. He also commended Hyundai Motor Group's achievements in becoming the third largest automaker globally, highlighting their aggressive adoption of technology, including their acquisition of Boston Dynamics and their joint venture with Aptiv.

Prior to joining Tenstorrent, Keller held prominent roles in the tech industry. He was the lead chip architect at Intel and spent five years at AMD, where he led the development of the company's Zen architecture. Keller also played a crucial role in designing Apple's A4 and A5 processors, as well as Tesla's custom self-driving car silicon.