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German industrial giant Bosch collaborates with US chip startup Tenstorrent to develop a standardized chiplet platform for the automotive industry

The German industrial giant Bosch has teamed up with US chip startup Tenstorrent to develop a platform for standardizing automotive chip building blocks. The collaboration is aimed to reduce the costs of producing silicon products for the automotive industry and make the work easier. The companies are set to create a standard way of using chiplets-a component used in modern chips.

According to the executives of Tenstorrent, the combined different quantities and types of chiplets, the companies will create systems that can power vehicles with diverse needs. “Bosch is collaborating with us to essentially redefine how automakers look at silicon - purchasing silicon and building silicon,” said David Bennett, Tenstorrent's chief customer officer.

The need for more specialised chips can be attributed to the automotive industry's shift towards electrification and automated driving. Currently, car manufacturers are trying to innovate along two lines: either by building or buying the necessary chips. This already has industry leaders like Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Intel-owned Mobileye producing driver assistance chips and software.

The Bosch-Tenstorrent alliance looks forward to standardizing the technical requirements around chiplet building blocks that can also lead to reduced prices. As a result of the cost-advantageous economies of scale in producing large volumes of standardized chiplets, automakers are going to benefit from more options in customization.

“By producing a large volume of a standard chiplet that could be added or removed as needed for each application, we can save cash,” Bennett explained. Thaddeus Fortenberry, Tenstorrent's automotive vice president, added, “Automakers would also be afforded more customization options for each design, versus buying off-the-shelf parts.”

The partnership is not yet engaging specific products or sales to car manufacturers. Nonetheless, the impact of this partnership is huge for the automotive industry. Jim Keller now runs Tenstorrent and was in charge of designing the chip for Tesla's autonomous driving. He has also designed chips for AMD and Apple.

Electricity has shortly turned the auto into a high-end computer system. Standardization of chiplet technology may offer much-needed simplification to otherwise complex manufacturing processes.

As automotive evolving, individual players, such as Bosch and Tenstorrent, play a role in shaping automotive technology's future.