Tenstorrent Partners with Japan to Train Chip Designers

By Stephen Nellis

(Reuters) – Tenstorrent, a Silicon Valley artificial intelligence chip startup founded by veterans from Apple and Intel, announced a partnership with the Japanese government aimed at training up to 200 chip designers over five years at its U.S. offices.

The contract, revealed on Tuesday, involves $50 million allocated between Tenstorrent and Japan's Leading-edge Semiconductor Technology Center, part of Japan’s initiative to revitalize its semiconductor industry. Historically, Japan commanded over half of the global chips market during the 1980s but now controls less than ten percent.

At the heart of Japan's strategy is Rapidus, a contract chipmaker backed by billions in government funding that seeks to produce advanced semiconductors domestically and aims for mass production by 2027. Key to Rapidus' success will be finding clients for their chip designs.

This recent deal is foundational in creating those potential customers. Last year, Tenstorrent collaborated with Rapidus to develop chip designs suitable for manufacturing in Japan. Bringing Japanese engineers to the U.S. is intended to disseminate this knowledge across Japan's chip sector.

"Japan's actions and investments clearly reflect their desire for greater control over their future," said Tenstorrent Chief Customer Officer David Bennett during a Reuters interview.

Beginning in April 2025, Japanese engineers will collaborate with experienced Tenstorrent executives like Jim Keller and Wei-Han Lien, who have a history of chip development for Apple, alongside Yasuo Ishii, a senior figure from Arm Holdings, to design AI chips.

Although Tenstorrent will own the chip designs created through this agreement, they will utilize RISC-V, an open-source chip design technology. This experience will enable the Japanese engineers to craft their own RISC-V designs upon returning home.