Hyundai
and Kia will invest $50 million, making the group the lead investor in
Tenstorrent’s latest funding round, a total of $100 million. The
investment will be used to accelerate Tenstorrent’s design and
development of AI chiplets and its machine learning (ML) software
roadmap.
The
group expects to leverage Tenstorrent’s high-performance technologies
and experience to jointly develop optimized semiconductors while
strengthening its own technological capabilities. The newly developed
high-performance semiconductors will be applied to central processing
units (CPU) and neural processing units (NPU) for future vehicles and
mobility solutions.
Hyundai
established the Semiconductor Development Group earlier this year. This
specialized group is dedicated to customized semiconductor development
for the group's innovative mobilities, achieved through strategic
collaborations with various external partners.
Founded
in 2016, Tenstorrent focuses on designing and developing advanced
processors to accelerate AI and ML workloads. Tenstorrent aims to create
efficient and high-performance hardware solutions that enable deep
learning at scale.
Tenstorrent’s
CEO Jim Keller is a renowned figure in the semiconductor industry.
Keller has an extensive background in chip design and architecture,
having worked at several prominent technology companies. He is widely
recognized for his contributions to the development of microprocessors
and is known for his expertise in CPU and system architecture design.
By
working with Hyundai, Tenstorrent aims to enter the automotive sector
based on its AI semiconductor core intellectual property (IP)
competitiveness, a cadre of semiconductor experts and robust development
direction.
