In the artificial intelligence era, companies that have managed to establish themselves as pioneers have gained a huge advantage over all others. NVIDIA is part of the industry, being the world’s leading supplier of AI hardware. Now, the emerging competition is looking to grab a piece of the pie while offering reliable alternative options. Tenstorrent, a promising AI chipmaker, recently raised 700 million dollars from Samsung.
Tenstorrent, the company that wants to dethrone NVIDIA
Tenstorrent is an AI chipmaker whose main goal is to offer hardware that is more affordable and energy efficient than NVIDIA’s. Jim Keller, CEO of the company, has vast experience in the tech industry, having worked for Apple, Tesla, and AMD. Unlike NVIDIA, Tenstorrent will develop its products around open-source technology. Keller believes that it is useless to try to compete using licensed hardware as NVIDIA acquires most of the available supply and has a “cost advantage.”
For example, NVIDIA acquires most of the HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) chips. However, that can put it at a disadvantage when it comes to offering better prices. “They’ll never be able to bring the price down the way HBM is built into their products and their sockets,” said Tenstorrent’s CEO about NVIDIA.
Samsung’s $700 million investment will boost AI chipmaker’s competition with NVIDIA
Samsung is one of the brands that is betting the most on AI-based developments. Therefore, it is convenient for that there is more competition and more profitable hardware in the segment. With that in mind, Samsung has invested 700 million dollars in AI chipmaker Tenstorrent to boost it in the race to dethrone NVIDIA. Previously, prominent names like Jeff Bezos and others invested large sums in the company. This has led Tenstorrent to reach a valuation of more than 2.6 billion dollars.
The list of companies that have invested in Tenstorrent also includes AFW Partners, LG Electronics, and Fidelity, among others. The AI chipmaker will use Samsung’s $700 million to improve its engineering team and supply chain. Additionally, it plans to create AI training servers that showcase the capabilities of its technology.
Tenstorrent confirmed that it will launch new generations of AI chips every two years. Samsung Electronics and TSMC factories will produce the company’s next products. The production of 2nm chips by 2025 is also on its roadmap. If all goes well, Samsung Foundry could gain a major client for whom it will produce semiconductors.