Jim Keller from Tenstorrent
Japan’s Leading-edge Semiconductor Technology Center, or LSTC, was established in late 2022 with a mission to advance the country’s research and innovation in areas such as nanotechnology, chip manufacturing, semiconductor materials and artificial intelligence. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has approved the outsourcing of this research, and it was recently announced that Japan will spend more than 45 billion yen ($300 million) to support the LTSC and adjacent organizations in their efforts, with the ultimate goal of strengthening Japan’s competitiveness in the semiconductor industry, today and tomorrow.
In an announcement yesterday, LSTC, together with Tenstorrent and Rapidus Corporation, revealed a multi-tiered partnership to license and leverage Tenstorrent’s core RISC-V and chiplet IP technologies for Tenstorrent’s planned 2nm AI accelerator. LTSC for the edge. In addition to the IP licensing portion of the deal, Tenstorrent will also collaborate with LSTC to help co-design the chip.
Tenstorrent offers innovative chips and IP licenses
“The joint effort of Tenstorrent and LSTC to create a cutting-edge chipset-based AI accelerator represents a groundbreaking undertaking in the first cross-organizational development of chipsets in the semiconductor industry,” said Wei- Han Lien, Chief Architect of Tenstorrent’s RISC-V products. “The cutting-edge AI accelerator will integrate LSTC’s AI chiplet as well as Tenstorrent’s RISC-V and edge chiplet technology. This pioneering strategy leverages the collective capabilities of both organizations to utilize the adaptable and efficient nature of chiplet technology to meet the growing needs of cutting-edge AI applications.
Tenstorrent RISC-V chip
The upcoming AI accelerator will feature the Ascalon RISC-V processor core and peripheral technologies from Tenstorrent. Tenstorrent’s IP will be used to co-develop a RISC-V CPU chipset, which will ultimately be part of LSTC’s upcoming cutting-edge AI accelerator. The chip will feature a Tenstorrent processor and peripheral IP, combined with LSTC’s AI chipset.
Collaboration includes Tenstorrent, LSTC and Rapidus
Tenstorrent will also work on the project with Rapidus Corporation, a young Japanese semiconductor company developing cutting-edge semiconductor technologies. Rapidus will be responsible for wafer processing and advanced packaging to manufacture the chip. To further support the project (and other customers), Tenstorrent also plans to open a high-performance computing design center in Japan.
The pandemic and resulting supply chain shortages have raised awareness in the semiconductor industry of the need for a stronger and more diverse array of suppliers and manufacturers. This is part of the reason the Chips Act was passed here in the United States and why the Department of Economy, Trade and Industry approved such a significant investment in Japan to advance its chips industry. semiconductors and its AI initiatives. THE selection of Tentorrent by Japan’s Leading-edge Semiconductor Technology Center is a strong vote of confidence in Tenstorrent’s technology and business model, and I suspect there will be many more partnerships like this to come for the company.