[Profile] Jim Keller Tenstorrent CEO

by Kim HyeongMin

Published 19 Aug.2024 08:06(KST)

Updated 19 Aug.2024 14:11(KST)

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The Undisputed 'Legend of Semiconductors' and 'Genius Engineer'
Held Key Positions at AMD, Intel, Apple, Tesla, and More

Jim Keller, CEO of Tenstorrent, is widely recognized as a legendary figure in the semiconductor design field. In the IT industry, he is often called a "genius engineer."

Jim Keller Tenstorrent CEO

CEO Keller graduated with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Pennsylvania State University in the United States. After becoming an engineer, he demonstrated his abilities in key positions at global companies. The semiconductor chips he designed greatly enhanced the reputation and status of those companies. At AMD, he worked as a lead architect (1998?1999) and vice president (2012?2015), creating the "Hammer Architecture (Athlon)" and "Zen Architecture (Ryzen)" series. With these products, AMD emerged as a strong competitor threatening Intel, which was the market leader at the time. At Apple (2008?2012), he developed the mobile application processors (AP) A4 and A5, known as the brains of smartphones. At Tesla (2016?2018), he created the autonomous driving chip "Hardware (HW) 3," laying the foundation for full self-driving (FSD) technology. He also served as senior vice president at Intel from 2018 to 2020.

After leaving Intel in June 2020, CEO Keller became CTO of the Canadian artificial intelligence (AI) chip startup Tenstorrent four months later. Since January last year, he has been serving as CEO, leading the company overall. Tenstorrent is a fabless startup company developing AI chips. Founded in 2016, it is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with branches in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, India, and Serbia. The company mainly develops AI processors and excels in semiconductor design. Recently, it has been providing solutions and IP licenses centered on RISC-V to various companies.

*Jim Keller Key Profile