Tenstorrent raises 1.5 billion, valuing AI chip firm at 6.2 billion
AI chip startup Tenstorrent raised $1.5 billion in a late-stage round that values the company at $6.2 billion, The Globe and Mail and Reuters reported. Trace Capital and Innovation X led the Series E. The Toronto-founded firm, led by Jim Keller, plans to scale Galaxy server production.
Tenstorrent Holdings raised US$1.5 billion in fresh capital at a US$6.2 billion valuation, The Globe and Mail and Reuters reported Monday. Reuters, carried by CNA, said the post-money valuation more than doubles the mark from its December 2024 round. The Globe and Mail said a late 2024 financing valued the company at US$2 billion.
The Series E was led by Trace Capital and Innovation X, Reuters and The Globe and Mail reported. Other named backers include ARK Invest, Sandisk, Morgan Stanley and T. Rowe Price, Reuters reported. The Globe and Mail also listed Cadence Venture Capital, Maverick Silicon, Eclipse, Protagonist, Fidelity and Agostinelli Group among participants.
CEO Jim Keller, a veteran chip architect who previously worked at Tesla, Apple and AMD, said the company builds one architecture "at every size," according to a statement in The Globe and Mail. Reuters said Tenstorrent will use the money to scale production of Galaxy servers that combine its AI chips for chatbots, coding tools and video generators, and that it designs chips on the open RISC-V architecture.
The Globe and Mail said the Austin-based company was founded in Toronto, still employs about 200 people there among roughly 1,000 staff, and pitches its hardware as an Nvidia alternative for AI inference workloads. The Globe and Mail also noted earlier reports of Intel and Qualcomm interest. Those takeover claims are not confirmed in the Reuters account and are treated as prior reporting, not new verified fact.
What we know: Tenstorrent raised $1.5 billion at a $6.2 billion valuation led by Trace Capital and Innovation X.
What we don't: How fast Galaxy server shipments will ramp, or whether any chip giant will bid for the company.
Where outlets agree The Globe and Mail and Reuters report that Tenstorrent raised $1.5 billion at a $6.2 billion valuation in a Trace Capital and Innovation X-led round.
Where they differ Reuters says the new valuation more than doubles the December 2024 mark, while The Globe and Mail cites a late 2024 deal that valued the company at $2 billion.