Tether Backs Tenstorrent’s $1.5B AI Chip Funding Round
Tether Capital joined Tenstorrent’s $1.5 billion Series E funding round, valuing the AI chipmaker at $6.2 billion. The investment amount and Tether’s ownership stake were not disclosed. Tenstorrent, led by chip architect Jim Keller, develops AI processors, CPUs, server systems and software as alternatives to proprietary hardware and cloud services. Its technology is used by companies including Samsung and LG, with applications in large language models and video generation.
Tenstorrent plans to expand production and deployment of its Galaxy servers, advance AI chip and CPU research, and grow its global business. Its systems are designed to let customers run AI models locally or within their own facilities. Tether said the investment supports AI systems that users can build, run and control. The move adds to Tether’s broader AI push, which includes investment in AIsa, a platform for AI-agent payments, and an offline speech-recognition model.
The funding expands Tether’s investment exposure beyond digital assets, but the announcement does not indicate a direct change to its stablecoin operations, reserves or USDT issuance. It is not, by itself, a clear trading catalyst for USDT.
Neutral
The investment is in Tenstorrent, a private AI hardware company, and does not represent a disclosed change to Tether’s stablecoin reserves, operations or USDT issuance. As a result, the news has no clear direct effect on USDT’s peg or supply, making a sustained price reaction unlikely. Short-term trading may see limited attention because the funding highlights Tether’s expansion into AI, but that is not a direct USDT market catalyst. Longer term, broader investment activity could shape perceptions of Tether’s strategy, yet traders would need evidence of effects on reserves, liquidity or stablecoin demand before treating it as a meaningful USDT price signal.