Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, is throwing his support behind Tenstorrent, an AI-focused computing company aiming to challenge Nvidia’s dominance in the artificial intelligence chip market. Through Bezos Expeditions, his private investment arm, Bezos contributed to a $693 million funding round that included investors such as LG Electronics and Fidelity, led by South Korea's Samsung Securities and AFW Partners.

Tenstorrent plans to leverage the funding to enhance its open-source AI software, expand its developer base, and build advanced systems and cloud solutions for AI developers. “We are excited by the breadth of investors that believe in our vision,” said Keith Witek, COO of Tenstorrent, emphasizing the strategic mix of financial backers and individual supporters confident in the company’s roadmap.

The startup’s competitive edge lies in its commitment to making AI technology more accessible and affordable for smaller firms. Unlike Nvidia, whose AI chips often rely on expensive high-bandwidth memory (HBM), Tenstorrent uses open-source solutions and avoids costly hardware components. Founder and CEO Jim Keller remarked, “You can’t beat Nvidia if you use HBM... But they’ll never be able to bring the price down the way HBM is built into their products and their sockets.”

This cost-effective approach has already attracted $150 million in signed contracts for Tenstorrent. With AI chip prices proving a major barrier for smaller businesses, the startup aims to level the playing field, challenging Nvidia's stronghold on the market.

Nvidia, currently the world’s second-most valuable company, earned $12.6 billion from three unnamed customers—likely major players such as Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft—in the third fiscal quarter alone. The Santa Clara-based giant’s dominance stems from its compute & networking segment, which provides the infrastructure powering today’s AI boom.

However, with smaller companies struggling to afford Nvidia’s solutions, open-source technology is emerging as a game-changer. Tenstorrent’s strategy aligns with a growing trend in the industry, as evidenced by Meta’s commitment to open-source AI models like Llama 3.2.

While companies like Meta and Tesla are betting big on Nvidia, Tenstorrent’s mission to democratize AI technology could disrupt the status quo. With Bezos and other influential backers on board, the startup is well-positioned to shake up the AI landscape.