Tensorrenta chip startup run by a famous semiconductor engineer Jim Kellersays it has raised greater than $693 million in Series D financing, giving it a pre-money valuation of $2 billion.
Samsung Securities AND AFW Partners led the round. Jeff Bezos‘ Bezos expeditions, Fidelity Management and Research Co. AND LG electronics also joined the financing of Tenstorrent, which is expected to rival the semiconductor giant Nvidia in creating chips for AI. Canada export development, Health care under the Ontario Pension Plan, Hyundai Automotive Group, Baillie Gifford other investors also participated in the transaction.
Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Tenstorrent was founded in 2016 and has since raised over $1 billion, via Crunchbase.
Keller, one of the most recognized engineers in the semiconductor industry, joined company in 2021 as president and chief technology officer, and was named CEO in early 2023. Previously he worked in Intel, Tesla, Apple — where he led the development of the A4 and A5 processors that powered the iPhone 4 — and AMDwhere he was the lead architect of the K8 microarchitecture.
Bloomberg reported that Tenstorrent’s recent financing totaled $700 million and has a post-money valuation of roughly $2.6 billion.
Tensorrent says plans to make use of the recent capital to “build open-source AI software stacks, hire developers, expand its global development and design centers, and build systems and clouds for AI developers.”
The company is the latest startup at the intersection of chips and artificial intelligence to lift large amounts of money from investors this yr. Others include:
- in October Light matterstartup that uses light to attach chips together and perform calculations for deep learning needed for artificial intelligence closed a $400 million Series D deal led by a recent investor T. Rowe Price at a valuation of $4.4 billion.
- Black semiconductor in July, it raised almost $275 million – mostly from the German government.
- In March, optical interconnections will probably be launched Celestial Artificial Intelligence raised $175 million in Series C funding, which he led Thomas Tull‘S American Fund for Innovative Technologies. Celestial’s photonic fabric platform helps decouple processing power from memory, making extensive AI processing faster and more energy-efficient.
- Based in San Francisco etched.ai closed a $120 million round led by Positive sum AND Main partners of the project in June.
- This happened after the Israeli chipmaker AI Hello in April, it closed on a $136 million, $120 million Series C extension. The recent round of financing was led by existing and recent investors, including: Gil Agmon, Poalima Capital and others.
- In February in San Jose, California Recognizewhich develops an AI inference chip for generative artificial intelligence and the automotive industry, raised $102 million in Series C funding, co-led by: Celeste’s capital AND GreatPoint ventures.
- Based in Santa Clara, California Industry Hellocreator of a laser production technology platform for the semiconductor industry, raised $80 million for Series B, of which he is the leader American Fund for Innovative Technologies in July.
- Also in July, based in San Jose, California DreamBig semiconductor raised $75 million in an equity round he co-led Samsung Catalyst Fund AND Healthy Sutardja.
AI chip launch in March Astera’s laboratory became one of the few venture-backed startups to go public this yr. The company raised USD 713 million as part of its initial public offering on the stock exchange Nasdaq when its shares were valued at $36 each. Recently, the company’s quotations have exceeded the $100 mark.