Former Altera CEO Sandra Rivera Joins AI Startup Vsora

- Before becoming CEO of Altera, Sandra Rivera managed Intel's Data Center and AI Group, overseeing the development of Xeon processors, Gaudi AI accelerators, and FPGA products. She was recognized by TIME Magazine in 2023 as one of the most influential people in AI. - Vsora is a French fabless semiconductor company founded in 2015 that aims to be a key European player in AI chip innovation, countering non-European designers like NVIDIA. The company has raised at least $46 million in funding from investors including Otium, Omnes Capital, and the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund. - The Jotunn8 chip is specifically an AI *inference* chip, designed for running trained models efficiently, which contrasts with hardware optimized for the more computationally intensive training phase. This focus targets the growing need for efficient, large-scale deployment of AI applications in data centers and at the edge. - Vsora's Jotunn8 is built on TSMC's 5nm process and uses a chiplet-based design with advanced CoWoS multi-chip packaging to connect compute chiplets with HBM3e memory chiplets. This architecture is designed to overcome the "memory wall" bottleneck, where processing units are left idle waiting for data, which improves efficiency and reduces power consumption. - The Jotunn8 processor is specified to deliver 3,200 TFLOPS of compute power and incorporates 288 GB of HBM3e memory. Vsora claims it uses 50% less energy compared to current market-leading chips. - Rivera's move is part of a larger trend where top AI talent is migrating from established tech giants to agile startups. These smaller companies can offer more speed, ownership, and substantial equity, attracting experienced leaders who want to innovate without the bureaucracy of large corporations.