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

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【Summary】AI and RISC-V chip company Tenstorrent has raised $100m in an investment round led by Hyundai, Kia, and Samsung. The funding 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 its future vehicles, and the company also recently signed a deal with LG for its chips to be used in smart TVs. Tenstorrent's CEO, Jim Keller, expressed gratitude for the trust shown by Hyundai and Samsung in the company.

FutureCar Staff Aug 14, 2023 12:14 AM PT

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

Tenstorrent, an AI and RISC-V startup, recently secured a significant investment of $234.5 million, bringing its total funding to date to $1 billion. The investment was structured as a debt that will convert to stock at a later date.

To determine its new valuation, Tenstorrent will need to hold another round of equity fundraising, which is planned for next year.

Tenstorrent specializes in building scalable artificial intelligence accelerators for both the cloud and Edge, with the aim of competing with Nvidia's GPUs. Additionally, the company is 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 will incorporate Tenstorrent designs into future vehicles from Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. This follows Hyundai's establishment of its own semiconductor development group last year. Furthermore, Tenstorrent recently signed an agreement 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, stating, "It has been impressive watching Hyundai Motor Group become the third largest automaker in the world through their aggressive adoption of technology, including their acquisition of Boston Dynamics, their joint venture with Aptiv, and now their investment in us."

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