Jim Keller's Tenstorrent Just Raised 1.5 Billion Dollars and Its Valuation More Than Doubled in Under 2 Years

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Every few weeks I see another "Nvidia killer" headline and I roll my eyes. But when Jim Keller's name is attached, I stop scrolling. Keller is the chip architect behind landmark designs at AMD, Apple, and Tesla. And his company, Tenstorrent, just pulled in serious money.

The Deal in Numbers

  • $1.5 billion Series E, led by Trace Capital and Innovation X.
  • $6.2 billion post-money valuation.
  • That's more than double the roughly $2.6 to $2.7 billion valuation after its Series D in December 2024.

An SEC filing from September already hinted at this. It showed about $1.29 billion raised from 134 investors, against an offering size of roughly $1.42 billion. Now the full round is public.

What Tenstorrent Actually Sells

Tenstorrent is not trying to beat Nvidia at its own game. Its strategy is different, and that's why I think it's worth watching.

  • AI chips: Wormhole and Blackhole processors, with a third-generation chiplet design in the works.
  • Galaxy servers: it's building 1,000 units and more than half are already sold. Its largest deployment is with Japan's ai&, running 120+ systems.
  • RISC-V CPU designs: its Ascalon family is licensed to other chipmakers. No ARM royalties, no x86 lock-in.
  • Open-source software: TT-Metalium and the TT-Forge compiler, instead of a closed CUDA-style moat.
  • Developer hardware starting at $999, which is cheap enough for hobbyists to experiment.

The Korea Connection Nobody Talks About

This is the part that surprised me. Tenstorrent is deeply tied to Korean tech giants:

  • Samsung co-led an earlier round, and Samsung Foundry manufactures Tenstorrent's chiplets.
  • Hyundai and Kia put in $30 million and $20 million in 2023 to develop AI chips for future vehicles.
  • LG licenses its designs for smart TVs, appliances, and cars.

So when you hear "AI chip startup," think of Tenstorrent as a design and licensing shop that big manufacturers plug into their own products.

Why the Timing Is Interesting

This round lands in a crazy week for AI hardware. Chip stocks got crushed on Friday, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down 3.83%, as investors worried about AI spending. Then they bounced today. Meanwhile, Meta revealed its Prometheus supercluster in Ohio, targeting around 1 million GPUs, and Amazon is opening a public beta of a native PyTorch backend for its Trainium chips on October 20.

Everyone wants an alternative to paying Nvidia prices. Tenstorrent's open, licensable approach is one of the more credible bets.

My Honest Take

Tenstorrent doesn't disclose revenue, and a $6.2 billion valuation still assumes a lot of future growth. Back in June there were reports of Qualcomm takeover talks at $8 to $10 billion, which Keller denied. Either way, the money is flowing in, and the open RISC-V plus open software story is gaining real customers.

What's your experience? Drop a comment below! 👇 Do you think anyone can seriously challenge Nvidia in AI chips by 2028?

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