Hyundai, Samsung add to Tenstorrent's $100M fundraise

Tenstorrent, a Canadian artificial intelligence chip startup, wrapped up a $100 million funding round led by Hyundai Motor companies and Samsung Catalyst Fund.

Jim Keller, left, Tenstorrent CEO, and Kim Heung-soo, head of Hyundai Motor Group’s Global Strategy Office, pose for a photo during an investment agreement signing ceremony in Santa Clara, California. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Tenstorrent, a Canadian artificial intelligence chip startup, wrapped up a $100 million funding round led by Hyundai Motor companies and Samsung Catalyst Fund.

Hyundai Motor and Kia’s combined contribution represented half of the total funding, with the former investing $30 million and the latter $20 million. Hyundai Motor Group plans to further bolster cooperation with Tenstorrent via joint research and development projects.

Samsung Catalyst Fund, Samsung Electronics’ venture capital fund, did not provide investment details such as the amount.

Founded in 2016, Tenstorrent is a Toronto-based semiconductor design company headed by Jim Keller.

Keller is a prominent microprocessor engineer who formerly served key roles as the chip architect at AMD and Apple, vice president of Autopilot at Tesla and senior vice president at Intel, before joining Tenstorrent as a chief technology officer in 2021.

Keller was appointed as the company’s CEO in January 2023.

Hyundai Motor Group, encompassing both Hyundai Motor and Kia, said that the latest investment decision will help it “secure the chip capabilities optimized for future mobility businesses” in a release Thursday.

Hyundai Motor Group aims to jointly develop automotive semiconductors with Tenstorrent, tapping into the company’s fabless chip design capabilities for central processing units and neural processing units (NPUs). NPUs, in particular, will play a vital role in enabling an AI-powered autonomous driving system.

The companies plan to extend the partnership into robotics and advanced air mobility in the future.

“It has been impressive watching Hyundai Motor Group become the third largest automaker in the world through their aggressive adoption of technology including their acquisition of Boston Dynamics, their joint venture with Aptiv, and now their investment in us,” Keller said in a release.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]