Tenstorrent Strengthens Presence in Asia with Rapidus Partnership

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The deal with Rapidus marks Tenstorrent's fourth public partnership with an Asian chip firm.

www.eetasia.com/, Dec. 05, 2023 – 

California–"When we met Rapidus for the first time, they said something really exciting: They want to speed up the iteration rate of making new technologies, and they want to focus in the first order on the speed of taping out the product in hand, rather than mass production and volume, and I think that is a really good focus," Tenstorrent CEO Jim Keller said, speaking at a signing ceremony held this month to mark the company's partnership with fledgling Japanese foundry Rapidus.

The deal with Rapidus marks Tenstorrent's fourth public partnership with an Asian chip firm. The startup also has IP-licensing deals with companies, including LG and Korean automotive SoC maker BOS Semiconductor. Hyundai has also said it will use Tenstorrent tech across its portfolio. The company is also committed to building a CPU and R&D team in Japan, given the exceptional talent base in Japan, and Japan's history of high-performance computing, EE Times has learned.

Tenstorrent and Rapidus have partnered to jointly develop semiconductor IP (design assets) for AI in the device based on 2-nm logic semiconductors. (Tenstorrent already announced the company's forthcoming chiplet-based design, Grendel, will be built on Samsung Foundry's 3 nm process.)

"We are not process designers, but we are computer designers who use the process technology, who use CAD tools, who use PDKs, who use libraries, and I am looking forward to working with [Rapidus'] team on iterating on that," Keller said.

Rapidus' proposition is aggressive. The firm plans to build Japan's first 2-nm fab in Chitose City, Hokkaido in time to start operating a pilot production line in April 2025, with mass production scheduled for 2027. Rapidus is aiming for its second fab to be on 1.4-nm technology, and the company has two key areas of focus: One is speed, the other is sustainability, Rapidus President and CEO Atsuyoshi Koike said in remarks at the same ceremony.

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