Tenstorrent Raises $1.5B, Valuation Hits $6.2B

According to a company statement, artificial intelligence (AI) chip startup Tenstorrent Inc. has raised $1.5 billion in a Series E funding round, bringing its valuation to $6.2 billion. The latest financing follows reports earlier this year that the company attracted acquisition interest from potential buyers.

The funding round was led by Trace Capital, with participation from Innovation X. Other investors included Agostinelli Group, SanDisk Corp., and Tether Investments, as well as Cadence Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Cadence Design Systems Inc., and T. Rowe Price Group Inc. Existing investors, including Ark Invest and Fidelity, also participated in the round.

Tenstorrent designs AI chips that the company claims can deliver greater efficiency for certain AI workloads. Earlier this year, the company reportedly held discussions with industry players, including Intel Corp. and Qualcomm Inc., regarding potential acquisition deals while also pursuing additional investment.

The latest funding marks a significant increase in Tenstorrent's valuation, which has more than doubled from $2.6 billion in its previous funding round in 2024. The company is seeking to strengthen its position in an increasingly competitive AI hardware market, where companies are investing hundreds of billions of dollars annually in AI infrastructure.

Unlike businesses focused solely on individual semiconductor components, Tenstorrent offers a broader range of products, including computing systems and software. This approach places the company in competition with established chipmakers such as Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) across multiple layers of the AI computing ecosystem.

Tenstorrent is led by CEO Jim Keller, a prominent semiconductor engineer who has contributed to major chip development projects at companies including AMD and Apple Inc. He has also held positions at Intel Corp. and Tesla Inc.

Founded in 2016 by former AMD employees Ljubisa Bajic, Milos Trajkovic, and Ivan Hamer, Tenstorrent continues to expand its role in the AI semiconductor industry. Bajic previously worked with Keller at AMD, establishing an early connection between the company's founding team and experienced semiconductor engineering leadership.