Samsung and Jeff Bezos invest US$700 million in NVIDIA rival

Samsung, Jeff Bezos and other big investors are moving to capture a piece of the growing artificial intelligence (AI) market.

The race to develop hardware solutions for AI is intensifying, and Tenstorrent, a semiconductor startup, is the latest bet by technology giants to challenge NVIDIA’s dominance.

In its latest investment round, the company raised US$700 million, increasing its market value to more than US$2.6 billion. The initiative was created with the main objective of challenging the market led by NVIDIA, creating more economical and efficient alternatives in terms of energy consumption.

Samsung and Jeff Bezos lead financing

The financing was led by AFW Partners and Samsung Securities, both South Korean, and included the participation of Bezos Expeditions (personal fund of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos), LG Electronics and Fidelity.

Currently, the idea is to expand the engineering team, invest in the supply chain and develop AI training servers, which will demonstrate Tenstorrent’s technology.

The move is a clear attempt to position Tenstorrent as a direct competitor to NVIDIA, whose hardware solutions have dominated the AI ​​market.

Challenge NVIDIA hegemony

Tenstorrent, based in Santa Clara, California, is developing chips with a focus on being more efficient and affordable compared to those sold by NVIDIA.

To achieve this, the startup is betting on open-source technologies, seeking to avoid proprietary and expensive components, such as the HBM (High-Bandwidth Memory) memory used by NVIDIA.

“You can’t beat NVIDIA if you use HBM, because NVIDIA buys most of HBM and has a cost advantage”

Jim Keller, CEO da Tenstorrent

Keller, a respected figure in the semiconductor industry, has worked for large companies such as Apple, Tesla and AMD, and his battle is to break this cost barrier and make AI chips accessible to more sectors.

Tenstorrent plans to release new AI chips every two years. The first models were produced by GlobalFoundries, and the next versions will be developed by giants Samsung Electronics and TSMC, in alignment with the production of 2 nm chips scheduled for 2025.

If the investors’ bet pays off, Tenstorrent could become a valuable customer for Samsung’s foundry division, which seeks to diversify its contracts and increase semiconductor production.

Strategic movement and market expansion

The investment follows a pattern of initiatives by major figures in the technology sector to support startups that challenge already established companies. Recently, it was also reported that Jeff Bezos entered another innovative market, through investment in the startup Figure, which develops humanoid robots with artificial intelligence, challenging companies such as NVIDIA and Intel in a similar approach.

Furthermore, movements such as that of Raja Koduri, a former Intel executive, joining the startup founded by former employees of AMD and Apple, demonstrate a growing wave of initiatives that seek to challenge the hegemony of large hardware manufacturers in the computing scenario. AI and semiconductors.

Finally, alongside Jeff Bezos, Samsung is clearly betting on a long-term strategy to ensure its participation in a market that is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years.

If Tenstorrent manages to deliver what it promises, it could not only challenge NVIDIA’s hegemony, but also contribute significantly to the development of new, more accessible technologies with lower energy consumption, paving the way for a more inclusive future in the field of artificial intelligence. .

After all, competition is always good, right?

Fonte: Sam Mobile