Tentorrentthe chip startup led by the famous semiconductor engineer Jim Kellerclaims to have raised over $693 million in Series D funding, giving it a pre-money valuation of $2 billion.
Samsung titles And AFW Partners led the round. Jeff Bezos‘ Bezos Expeditions, Fidelity Management & Research Co. And LG Electronics also joined the financing of Tenstorrent, which aims to compete with the semiconductor giant Nvidia in creating chips for AI. Export and Development Canada, Ontario Health Care Pension Plan, Hyundai Automotive Group, Baillie Gifford and other investors also participated in the transaction.
Tenstorrent, based in Santa Clara, California, was founded in 2016 and the company has since raised more than $1 billion, by Crunchbase.
Keller, one of the semiconductor industry’s most renowned engineers, joined the company in 2021 as president and chief technology officer, and was named CEO in early 2023. He previously worked at Intel, Tesla, Apple – where he led the development of the A4 and A5 processors, which powered the iPhone 4 – and AMDwhere he was the lead architect of its K8 microarchitecture.
Bloomberg reported that Tenstorrent’s latest funding totaled $700 million and its post-funding valuation is around $2.6 billion.
Tentorrent said it plans to use the new 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 just the latest startup at the intersection of chips and AI to reap big from investors this year. Others include:
- In October, Lightmattera startup that uses light to connect chips together and perform calculations for the deep learning needed for AI, has locked in a $400 million Series D round led by a new investor. Price T. Rowe at a valuation of $4.4 billion.
- Black semiconductor raised nearly $275 million – mostly from the German government – in July.
- In March, start of optical interconnectivity Celestial AI raised a $175 million Series C round led by Thomas TullIt is American Fund for Innovative Technologies. Celestial’s photonic fabric platform enables separation of computation and memory, making the processing of extended AI faster and more energy efficient.
- Based in San Francisco Engraved.ai blocked a $120 million round led by Positive sum And Main partners in June.
- This was after the Israel-based AI chipmaker Hailo locked in a $120 million expansion of its $136 million Series C in April. The new funding round was led by existing and new investors, including Gil Agmon, Poalim Actions and others.
- In February, the San Jose, Calif.-based company Recognizewhich is developing its AI inference chip for the generative AI and automotive industries, raised a $102 million Series C round co-led by Celesta Capital And GreatPoint Companies.
- Based in Santa Clara, California Halo Industriesdeveloper of a laser manufacturing technology platform for the semiconductor industry, raised an $80 million Series B led by American Fund for Innovative Technologies in July.
- Also in July, the San Jose, Calif.-based company DreamBig Semiconductor raised $75 million in a funding round co-led by Samsung Catalyst Fund And Sehat Sutardja.
In March, start of AI chips Astera Laboratories became one of the few venture-backed startups to go public this year. The company raised $713 million in an IPO on the Nasdaq while its shares were priced at $36 each. The company has been trading above the $100 mark lately.
— Chris Metinko contributed to this report.
Related Crunchbase Pro list:
Related reading:
Illustration: Dom Guzman
Stay up to date on recent funding rounds, acquisitions and more with the Crunchbase Daily.