Hyundai Motor Group’s $50 million investment – divided into two, with $30 million coming from Hyundai and $20 million from Kia – is part of Tenstorrent’s latest round of funding, amounting to $100 million. The other half of the investment came from Samsung’s Catalyst Fund and other investors.
Interestingly, Tenstorrent is headed by chip industry veteran Jim Keller, who previously developed semiconductors for Apple, Intel, and, most notably, Tesla. As Tesla’s former head of Autopilot hardware and designer of Self-Driving Computer chips, the collaboration with the Hyundai Motor Group marks Keller’s return to developing chips for automotive use.
Of note, Tesla’s infamous Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems are under scrutiny these days following accidents involving the autonomous feature.