Tenstorrent hits $6.2B valuation to scale open-weight AI chips
Quick Look
- Tenstorrent, a 10-year-old AI chip startup, raised $1.5 billion at a $6.2 billion valuation, more than doubling its value from late 2024.
- The round was led by Trace Capital and Innovation X, with participation from Cadence Ventures, Eclipse, Fidelity, SanDisk, and T.
- CEO Jim Keller said the company chose to remain independent after demonstrating its Galaxy servers can run DeepSeek models, and will use funds to scale chips for open-weight AI models and video generation.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
Tenstorrent is a 10-year-old AI chip startup focused on inference, positioned as a challenger to Nvidia. Five months prior to this round, the company reportedly received acquisition interest from Intel and Qualcomm at valuations up to $5 billion.
Tenstorrent, a chip startup focused on inference, has raised $1.5 billion at a $6.2 billion valuation. The round comes five months after the 10-year-old Nvidia challenger reportedly received acquisition interest from Intel and Qualcomm at valuations of as much as $5 billion.
The fresh round, which more than doubled Tenstorrent’s valuation from the $2.6 billion it fetched in late 2024, was led by Trace Capital, a new firm launched by Quiet Capital co-founder Ben Mahdavi, and Innovation X. Other backers included Cadence Ventures, Eclipse, Fidelity, SanDisk, and T. Rowe Price.
Jim Keller, a prominent microprocessor engineer and Tenstorrent CEO, told Bloomberg that the company decided to remain independent and raise more capital after it showed that its Galaxy servers could run DeepSeek models. The new capital will go toward scaling chips tailored for serving open-weight AI models and video generation.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Tenstorrent will release new Galaxy server generations optimized for DeepSeek and other open-weight AI models within 12 months
Likely · Within months
Tenstorrent will pursue additional funding rounds or consider strategic partnerships before seeking an IPO
Possible · Within months
Open Questions
- What specific terms were included in the $1.5 billion funding round?
- How will Tenstorrent allocate funds between chip scaling for AI models versus video generation?
- What is the timeline for releasing new Galaxy server generations based on the new capital?
