Jim Keller (engineer)

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Jim Keller
Jim Keller (engineer).jpg
Keller in November 2024
Born1958or1959(age 66–67)
New Jersey, US
Education Pennsylvania State University
Occupation CEO at Tenstorrent
Known for
SpouseBonnie Peterson
Relatives Jordan Peterson (brother-in-law)

James B. Keller [1] (born 1958/1959) [2] is an American microprocessor engineer best known for his work at AMD, Apple, and Tesla. He was the lead architect of the AMD K8 microarchitecture [3] [4] [5] (including the original Athlon 64) [3] [6] [7] and was involved in designing the Athlon (K7) [5] and Apple A4/A5 processors. [3] [8] [9] [10] He was coauthor of the specifications for the x86-64 instruction set [8] [11] and HyperTransport interconnect. [3] [11] [12] From 2012 to 2015 he returned to AMD to work on the AMD K12 [13] and Zen microarchitectures. [14] [15]

Contents

Early life, family and education

Jim Keller was born in New Jersey as the second of six children. [16] His father worked at General Electric Aerospace as a mechanical engineer, and his mother was a stay-at-home mother during his childhood then became a therapist later in life. [16]  

He graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1980 with a B.S. in electrical engineering. [17] [1]

Career

Jim Keller joined DEC in 1982 and worked there until 1998, where he was involved in designing a number of processors, including the VAX 8800, [1] the Alpha 21164 and the Alpha 21264 processors. [3] [4] Prior to DEC, he had worked at Harris Corporation on microprocessor boards. [1] In 1998, he moved to AMD, where he worked to launch the AMD Athlon (K7) processor and was the lead architect of the AMD K8 microarchitecture, [18] which also included designing the x86-64 instruction set and HyperTransport interconnect, mainly used for multiprocessor communications. [3]

In 1999, he left AMD to work at SiByte to design MIPS-based processors for 1 Gbit/s network interfaces and other devices. [4] [12] [19] In November 2000 SiByte was acquired by Broadcom, [20] where he continued as chief architect [9] until 2004. [3]

In 2004, he moved to serve as the Vice President of Engineering at P.A. Semi, [3] [11] a company specializing in low-power mobile processors. [4] In early 2008 Keller moved to Apple. P.A. Semi was acquired by Apple shortly afterwards, reuniting Keller with his prior team from P.A. Semi. [6] [18] The new team worked to design the Apple A4 and A5 system-on-a-chip mobile processors. These processors were used in several Apple products, including iPhone 4 and 4S, iPad and iPad 2.

In August 2012, Keller returned to AMD, where his primary task was to lead development of new generations of x86-64 and ARM microarchitectures called Zen and K12. [15] [14] After years of being unable to compete with Intel in the high-end CPU market, AMD restored its ability to do just that with the new generation of Zen processors. [3] [13] On September 18, 2015, Keller left AMD. [21]

In January 2016, Keller joined Tesla, Inc. as Vice President of Autopilot Hardware Engineering. [22]

In April 2018, Keller joined Intel, where he served as Senior Vice President. [22] [23] [24] He resigned from Intel in June 2020, officially citing personal reasons, [25] though a later report said his departure was catalyzed by a dispute about whether the company should outsource more of its production. [26]

Keller joined AI chip startup Tenstorrent as CTO in December 2020 [27] and became its CEO in January 2023. [28]

In 2023, Keller and Sam Zeloof founded Atomic Semi, a foundry tools company that aims to design and manufacture low-cost small scale fabrication equipment. [29]

Personal life

Jim Keller's wife Bonnie [30] is the sister of Canadian author and clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson. [31]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 John Fu; James B. Keller; Kenneth J. Haduch (1987). "Aspects of the VAX 8800 C Box Design" (PDF). Digital Technical Journal. 1 (4).
  2. ↑ "Computer Architect Jim Keller Joins AMD as Chief of Processor Group".
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Anand Lal Shimpi (1 August 2012). "Apple A4/A5 Designer & K8 Lead Architect, Jim Keller, Returns to AMD". AnandTech . Archived from the original on 2 August 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Anton Shilov (1 August 2012). "Return of the King: AMD K7 and K8 Designer Jim Keller Back at AMD". X-bit Labs. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015.
  5. 1 2 Graeme Burton (12 May 2014). "AMD to design new micro-architecture for 2015 launch under chip guru Jim Keller". computing.co.uk.
  6. 1 2 Robin Wauters (1 August 2012). "Apple's CPU Architect Jim Keller Jumps To AMD". The Next Web.
  7. ↑ John Brownlee (1 August 2012). "AMD Hires Ax Series Architect Jim Keller Away From Apple To Report To Mark Papermaster". Cult of Mac.
  8. 1 2 Devindra Hardawar (1 August 2012). "Apple CPU lead Jim Keller heads back to AMD as chief architect". VentureBeat .
  9. 1 2 Adi Robertson (1 August 2012). "Former Apple chip designer Jim Keller joins AMD as chief architect and VP". The Verge . Vox Media.
  10. ↑ Arik Hesseldahl (1 August 2012). "AMD Hires Apple's Head Chip Designer". AllThingsD .
  11. 1 2 3 Andy Patrizio (16 May 2014). "AMD roadmap: Is AMD finally ready to give Intel a real fight?". ITworld. Archived from the original on 30 June 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  12. 1 2 Charlie Demerjian (1 August 2012). "Apple's CPU architect Jim Keller moves back to AMD". SemiAccurate .
  13. 1 2 Sean Kalinich (27 June 2014). "AMD Brings K7/K8 Creator, Jim Keller, Back Into the Fold". decryptedtech.com. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015.
  14. 1 2 Anton Shilov (11 September 2014). "AMD: 'Bulldozer' was not a game-changer, but next-gen 'Zen' will be". kitguru.net.
  15. 1 2 Hassan Mujtaba (5 May 2014). "AMD Confirms Development of High-Performance x86 Core With Completely New Architecture". WCCFtech.com.
  16. 1 2 Douglas Fairbairn (8 July 2024). "Oral History of Jim Keller" (PDF). computerhistory.org.
  17. ↑ Brooke Crothers (1 August 2012). "In tit for tat, AMD grabs Apple chip designer". CNET .
  18. 1 2 Seth Weintraub (1 August 2012). "Apple CPU guru Jim Keller, who came with PA Semi deal, departs back to AMD to lead group under Mark Papermaster". 9to5Mac.com.
  19. ↑ Jose Vilches (1 August 2012). "Apple chip designer Jim Keller heads back to AMD". TechSpot .
  20. ↑ Molly Williams (7 November 2000). "Broadcom Agrees to Acquire SiByte for $2 Billion in Stock". Wall Street Journal .
  21. ↑ Parm Mann (18 September 2015). "Legendary CPU architect Jim Keller leaves AMD". Hexus.net. Archived from the original on 18 September 2015.
  22. 1 2 Seth Weintraub (28 January 2016). "The chip guru who built Apple's Ax microprocessors joins Tesla to lead the Autopilot Hardware Engineering team". Electrek.co.
  23. ↑ Danielle Muoio (21 April 2018). "CPU Design Guru Jim Keller Joins Intel; Completes CPU Grand Tour". Archived from the original on 1 February 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  24. ↑ Matthew Wilson (26 April 2018). "Zen architecture lead Jim Keller heads to Intel". KitGuru.net. Archived from the original on 26 April 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  25. ↑ "Changes in Intel's Technology, Systems Architecture and Client Group". Intel Newsroom. 11 June 2020. Archived from the original on 11 June 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  26. ↑ Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Stephen Nellis (30 December 2020). "Hedge fund Third Point urges Intel to explore deal options". Reuters.com. Archived from the original on 30 December 2020.
  27. ↑ Dr. Ian Cutress (5 January 2021). "Jim Keller Becomes CTO at Tenstorrent: 'The Most Promising Architecture Out There'". AnandTech.com. Archived from the original on 6 January 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  28. ↑ Sally Ward-Foxton (19 January 2023). "Jim Keller Steps Into CEO Role at Tenstorrent". EE Times.
  29. ↑ Manish Singh (10 January 2023). "OpenAI in talks to back Zeloof and chip legend Keller's startup at $100 million valuation". TechCrunch. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  30. ↑ Jordan Peterson. Beyond Order . pp. Coda.
  31. ↑ "He says freedom, they say hate. The pronoun fight is back". Toronto Star . 15 January 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
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