Japan Partners with US AI Chip Startup Tenstorrent to Revitalize Semiconductor Industry

Japan taps US chip startup Tenstorrent to help train new wave of engineers

(Reuters) - Tenstorrent, a Silicon Valley artificial intelligence chip startup founded by Apple and Intel veterans, said it had won a deal with the Japanese government to help train up to 200 Japanese chip designers at its U.S. offices over five years. The contract announced on Tuesday, under which $50 million will be divvied up among Tenstorrent and Japan's Leading-edge Semiconductor Technology Center, is part of Japan's effort to reinvigorate its semiconductor industry. The country controlled half or more of the global chips market through the 1980s but has less than a tenth of the market today. The centerpiece of Japan's efforts is Rapidus, a contract chipmaker with billions of dollars in government backing aiming to build advanced semiconductors in Japan and start mass production by 2027. But to succeed, the Rapidus factory will need to find customers who want their chip designs manufactured there. The deal on Tuesday is aimed at creating those future customers. Tenstorrent last year partnered with Rapidus to develop designs that can be made in its factory, and bringing Japanese engineers to its U.S. offices is aimed at spreading that knowledge throughout Japan's chip industry. "I think Japan's actions and their investments have clearly indicated that they want to be in more control of their own future," Tenstorrent Chief Customer Officer David Bennett told Reuters in an interview. Starting in April 2025, Japanese engineers will work alongside Tenstorrent executives such as Jim Keller and Wei-Han Lien, both of whom created chips for Apple, and Yasuo Ishii, a veteran of Arm Holdings, to design AI chips. While Tenstorrent will retain the chip blueprints created under the deal, those blueprints will be made using RISC-V, a free and open chip design technology. The visiting Japanese engineers will be able to use their experience in the U.S. to create their own RISC-V designs in Japan when they return. (Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Jamie Freed)

Japan taps Tenstorrent to train next-gen chip engineers

Government wants to make semiconductors big on home turf again Japan has asked AI chip startup Tenstorrent to train up to 200 chip designers from the country at its US offices over the course of five years to help inject new blood into Japan's semiconductor industry. The contract, announced on Tuesday, is valued at $50 million, invested between both Tenstorrent and Japan's Semiconductor Technology Center (LSTC). Tenstorrent said it will "train and elevate Japanese engineering talent while simultaneously cultivating a strong CPU team for the company in Japan." Program participants are to be nominated from large tech companies and universities in Japan, with the first cohort expected to start in April 2025. They will be trained on tech including Tenstorrent's RISC-V Ascalon design, Tensix IP, and AI and HPC software stacks for either one or two years before repatriating to their home country. Both the engineers and Tenstorrent will get financial support from the Japanese government for the training program and the startup will get to keep any of the RISC-V chip blueprints made during the engineers' stay. The goal is that the engineers will subsequently work for silicon design companies in Japan, and in return potentially license Tenstorrent's technology. "This is a groundbreaking program between Tenstorrent and Japan, and sending Japan's top engineers to become experts in Tenstorrent's technology will be pivotal in growing their ecosystem and propelling forward our efforts here as we build our edge 2nm AI accelerator in partnership with them," extolled LSTC charman Tetsuro Higashi. Tenstorrent chief customer officer David Bennett said the deal was in addition to an already existing agreement with Japanese advanced logic semiconductors company Rapidus and would help train "Japan's best and brightest in multiple disciplines related to high performance compute, AI hardware design and advanced software." Tenstorrent has linked-up with Rapidus to co-develop semiconductor IP for AI edge devices, which will be manufactured in Rapidus's planned, government-subsidized factory, and confirmed it will open a design center in Tokyo. Japan's semiconductor manufacturing thrived in the 80s when it controlled over half the market worldwide, but in the 90s, it began facing increased competition from the likes of South Korea and Taiwan. By 2019, Japan held only 10 percent of the global semiconductor industry. Now the nation would like to revert back to its heyday, and is offering substantial subsidies and programs, like the ones granted to Rapidus and Tenstorrent, to get there. ®

Japan taps US chip startup Tenstorrent to help train new wave of engineers

Nov 5 (Reuters) - Tenstorrent, a Silicon Valley artificial intelligence chip startup founded by Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab and Intel (INTC.O), opens new tab veterans, said it had won a deal with the Japanese government to help train up to 200 Japanese chip designers at its U.S. offices over five years. The contract announced on Tuesday, under which $50 million will be divvied up among Tenstorrent and Japan's Leading-edge Semiconductor Technology Center, is part of Japan's effort to reinvigorate its semiconductor industry. The country controlled half or more of the global chips market through the 1980s but has less than a tenth of the market today. The centerpiece of Japan's efforts is Rapidus, a contract chipmaker with billions of dollars in government backing aiming to build advanced semiconductors in Japan and start mass production by 2027. But to succeed, the Rapidus factory will need to find customers who want their chip designs manufactured there. The deal on Tuesday is aimed at creating those future customers. Tenstorrent last year partnered with Rapidus to develop designs that can be made in its factory, and bringing Japanese engineers to its U.S. offices is aimed at spreading that knowledge throughout Japan's chip industry. "I think Japan's actions and their investments have clearly indicated that they want to be in more control of their own future," Tenstorrent Chief Customer Officer David Bennett told Reuters in an interview. Starting in April 2025, Japanese engineers will work alongside Tenstorrent executives such as Jim Keller and Wei-Han Lien, both of whom created chips for Apple, and Yasuo Ishii, a veteran of Arm Holdings , to design AI chips. While Tenstorrent will retain the chip blueprints created under the deal, those blueprints will be made using RISC-V, a free and open chip design technology. The visiting Japanese engineers will be able to use their experience in the U.S. to create their own RISC-V designs in Japan when they return. Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Jamie Freed Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab