LG Electronics and Tenstorrent Join Forces for Advanced Chip Development

According to South Korean media outlet BusinessKorea, Canadian AI computer design startup Tenstorrent announced on Tuesday its collaboration with LG Electronics to develop chips for smart TVs, automotive products, and data centers. This partnership aims to cater specifically to the electronic components industry.

Established in 2016, Tenstorrent specializes in designing computers for training and running AI models, focusing on both software and hardware development, as stated by CEO Jim Keller during an interview. Keller, an accomplished engineer, has made groundbreaking contributions to chip design for companies like Apple, Tesla, and chip manufacturer AMD. According to data from PitchBook, the company is currently valued at $1 billion, but it has not disclosed any of its clients thus far.

Initially, LG will utilize Tenstorrent's AI chip blueprints to design its own chips. However, this partnership holds strategic significance, according to David Bennett, Chief Customer Officer of Tenstorrent. Additionally, Tenstorrent has designed a processor chip using the RISC-V architecture, which is a relatively new open-standard chip architecture that competes with Arm's ARM architecture.

As reported by South Korean media outlet TheElec, LG Group had rejected LX Group's request to transfer its chip development team back in February of last year. LG Group aims to possess competitive capabilities in chip technology for future business domains, such as autonomous driving, robotics, and metaverse cultivation. This collaboration with Tenstorrent aligns with LG's goal of bolstering its chip expertise in the industry.