Chip legend Jim Keller’s Tenstorrent raises $1.5B to expand its open compute ecosystem

Tenstorrent, a Toronto-based AI hardware startup led by semiconductor veteran Jim Keller, raised $1.5 billion in a Series E funding round. The round was led by Trace Capital and Innovation X, with participation from major investors such as Morgan Stanley, Fidelity, ARK Invest, and T. Rowe Price, boosting the company's valuation to $6.2 billion.

The company plans to use the new funds to expand production of its Galaxy servers, invest in research, and grow its workforce globally. Tenstorrent's products are designed to offer scalable and energy-efficient AI computing solutions.

Tenstorrent's funding and expansion are significant for the AI hardware market, which is currently dominated by Nvidia. By offering both hardware and open-source software, Tenstorrent presents an alternative for enterprises seeking more flexible and cost-effective AI compute options.

This increased competition could lower costs and provide more choices for companies developing and deploying advanced AI models, potentially accelerating innovation in the industry.

Tenstorrent was founded as a chip design company but quickly expanded to offer a full stack of AI computing solutions, including both hardware and software. The company is led by Jim Keller, known for his work at Intel, AMD, Apple, and Tesla, which gives it strong credibility in the industry.

Its focus on the open RISC-V instruction set and a unified platform approach has attracted attention from major investors and customers. Tenstorrent's products are already used by financial and data center companies for demanding AI workloads.

With the new funding, Tenstorrent is expected to ramp up production and global deployment of its AI servers and workstations. Observers will be watching to see if Tenstorrent can gain significant market share from Nvidia and drive further innovation in open, scalable AI compute platforms.