Japan’s Cutting-Edge Semiconductor Technology Center, or LSTC, was established in late 2022 and is tasked with promoting the country’s studies and innovation in areas such as nanotechnology, chip manufacturing, semiconductor materials research, and synthetic intelligence. Japan’s Ministry of Economy and Trade and industry has approved the outsourcing of these studies, and it was recently announced that Japan will spend more than forty-five billion yen ($300 million) on the LTSC and adjacent organizations in its efforts, with the ultimate goal of editing Japan’s competitiveness in the semiconductor sector. industry, today and tomorrow.
In an announcement yesterday, LSTC, in collaboration with Tenstorrent and Rapidus Corporation, revealed a multi-tiered partnership to license and operate Tenstorrent’s RISC-V technologies and the IP chipset for LTSC’s planned 2nm AI accelerator for the edge. As part of the deal, Tenstorrent will also collaborate with LSTC to co-design the chip.
“The joint effort of Tenstorrent and LSTC to create a chipset-based AI accelerator represents a groundbreaking initiative in the first chipset development among semiconductor industry organizations,” said Wei-Han Lien, Tenstorrent’s Chief RISC-V Product Architect. “The AI accelerator will integrate LSTC’s AI Chiplet, as well as Tenstorrent’s RISC-V and edge chiplet generation. This pioneering strategy leverages the collective roles of both organizations to utilize the adaptable and effective nature of chiplet generation to meet the developing desires of AI applications.
The upcoming AI accelerator will include the core of the Ascalon RISC-V processor and Tenstorrent’s cutting-edge technologies. Tenstorrent’s IP address will be used to co-develop a RISC-V CPU chipset, which will eventually become part of LSTC’s upcoming AI accelerator. The chip will feature a Tenstorrent processor and a peripheral IP address, along with LSTC’s AI chipset.
Tenstorrent will also work on the project with Rapidus Corporation, a Japanese semiconductor startup that is developing state-of-the-art semiconductor technologies. Rapidus will be responsible for wafer processing and complex packaging to manufacture the chip. To further help the project (and other customers), Tenstorrent also plans to open a high-performance computer design center in Japan.
The pandemic and the resulting supply chain shortages have made the semiconductor industry aware of the need for a more powerful and varied mix of suppliers and manufacturers. This is part of the explanation for why the Chips Act was passed here in the U. S. Why the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry approved such a giant investment in Japan to advance its semiconductor industry and AI initiatives. The variety of Tenstorrent through Japan’s Cutting-Edge Semiconductor Technology Center is a strong vote of confidence in Tenstorrent’s generation and business model, and I suspect there will be many more partnerships like this in the future for the company.