James B. Keller (born 1958/1959) is a

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circu ...

engineer best known for his work at

AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Santa Clara, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for business and consumer markets. While it initially manufact ...

and Apple. He was the lead architect of the

AMD K8 The AMD K8 Hammer, also code-named SledgeHammer, is a computer processor microarchitecture designed by AMD as the successor to the AMD K7 Athlon microarchitecture. The K8 was the first implementation of the AMD64 64-bit extension to the x86 in ...

microarchitecture (including the original

Athlon 64 The Athlon 64 is a ninth-generation, AMD64-architecture microprocessor produced by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), released on September 23, 2003. It is the third processor to bear the name ''Athlon'', and the immediate successor to the Athlon XP. T ...

) and was involved in designing the

Athlon Athlon is the brand name applied to a series of x86-compatible microprocessors designed and manufactured by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). The original Athlon (now called Athlon Classic) was the first seventh-generation x86 processor and the fi ...

(K7) and

Apple A4 The Apple A4 is a 32-bit package on package (PoP) system on a chip (SoC) designed by Apple Inc. and manufactured by Samsung. It was the first SoC Apple designed in-house. The first product to feature the A4 was the first-generation iPad, followe ...

/ A5 processors. He was also the coauthor of the specifications for the

x86-64 x86-64 (also known as x64, x86_64, AMD64, and Intel 64) is a 64-bit version of the x86 instruction set, first released in 1999. It introduced two new modes of operation, 64-bit mode and compatibility mode, along with a new 4-level paging mod ...

instruction set and

HyperTransport HyperTransport (HT), formerly known as Lightning Data Transport, is a technology for interconnection of computer processors. It is a bidirectional serial/ parallel high- bandwidth, low- latency point-to-point link that was introduced on Apri ...

interconnect. From 2012 to 2015, he returned to AMD to work on the

AMD K12 K12 was to be AMD's first custom microarchitecture based on the ARMv8-A (AArch64) instruction set with a planned release in 2017. Its predecessor, the Opteron A1100 series, also ARMv8-A, used ARM Cortex-A57 cores. the product still hasn't been re ...

and

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and l ...

microarchitectures.

Education

He holds a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in Electrical Engineering from

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

which he earned in 1980.

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 The VAX 8000 is a discontinued family of superminicomputers developed and manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) using processors implementing the VAX instruction set architecture (ISA). The 8000 series was introduced in October 1984 ...

, the

Alpha 21164 The Alpha 21164, also known by its code name, EV5, is a microprocessor developed and fabricated by Digital Equipment Corporation that implemented the Alpha instruction set architecture (ISA). It was introduced in January 1995, succeeding the Alp ...

and the

Alpha 21264 The Alpha 21264 is a Digital Equipment Corporation RISC microprocessor launched on 19 October 1998. The 21264 implemented the Alpha instruction set architecture (ISA). Description The Alpha 21264 is a four-issue superscalar microprocessor with o ...

processors. Prior to DEC, he had worked at

Harris Corporation Harris Corporation was an American technology company, defense contractor, and information technology services provider that produced wireless equipment, tactical radios, electronic systems, night vision equipment and both terrestrial and space ...

on microprocessor boards. In 1998 he moved to AMD, where he worked to launch the AMD

(K7) processor and was the lead architect of the

microarchitecture, which also included designing the x86-64 instruction set and HyperTransport interconnect mainly used for

multiprocessor Multiprocessing is the use of two or more central processing units (CPUs) within a single computer system. The term also refers to the ability of a system to support more than one processor or the ability to allocate tasks between them. There a ...

communications. In 1999, he left AMD to work at SiByte to design MIPS-based processors for 1 Gbit/s network interfaces and other devices. In November 2000, SiByte was acquired by

Broadcom Broadcom Inc. is an American designer, developer, manufacturer and global supplier of a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Broadcom's product offerings serve the data center, networking, software, broadband, wirel ...

, where he continued as chief architect until 2004. In 2004 he moved to serve as the Vice President of Engineering at P.A. Semi, a company specializing in low-power mobile processors. 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. The new team worked to design the Apple A4 and A5

system-on-a-chip A system on a chip or system-on-chip (SoC ; pl. ''SoCs'' ) is an integrated circuit that integrates most or all components of a computer or other electronic system. These components almost always include a central processing unit (CPU), memory ...

mobile processors. These processors were used in several Apple products, including

iPhone 4 The iPhone 4 is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the fourth generation of the iPhone lineup, succeeding the iPhone 3GS and preceding the 4S. Following a number of notable leaks, the iPhone 4 was first unvei ...

, 4S,

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, ...

and

iPad 2 The iPad 2 is a tablet designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. Compared to the first iPad, as the second model in the iPad line, it gained a faster dual core A5 processor, a lighter build structure, and was the first iPad to feature ...

. In August 2012, Jim Keller returned to AMD, where his primary task was to lead development of new generation of

and

ARM In human anatomy, the arm refers to the upper limb in common usage, although academically the term specifically means the upper arm between the glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint) and the elbow joint. The distal part of the upper limb between th ...

microarchitecture In computer engineering, microarchitecture, also called computer organization and sometimes abbreviated as µarch or uarch, is the way a given instruction set architecture (ISA) is implemented in a particular processor. A given ISA may be imp ...

s called

and

K12 K–12 refers to primary and secondary education in the United States, Canada, and Australia. K12 may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''K-12'' (album), by Melanie Martinez ** ''K-12'' (film), the accompanying film * Sonata in A, K. ...

. After years of being unable to compete with

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

in the high-end

CPU A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and ...

market, the new generation of Zen processors has restored AMD's ability to do just that. On September 18, 2015, Keller departed from AMD to pursue other opportunities, ending his three-year employment at AMD. In January 2016, Keller joined

Tesla, Inc. Tesla, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Tesla designs and manufactures electric vehicles (electric cars and trucks), battery energy storage from home to grid- ...

as Vice President of Autopilot Hardware Engineering. In April 2018, Keller joined

, where he served as Senior Vice President. He resigned from Intel June 2020 officially citing personal reasons. Though later it was reported that he left over a dispute on whether the company should outsource more of its production. Jim Keller joined Tenstorrent as CTO in December 2020.

Personal life

Jim Keller's wife, Bonnie, is the sister of Canadian author and clinical psychologist

Jordan Peterson Jordan Bernt Peterson (born 12 June 1962) is a Canadian media personality, clinical psychologist, author, and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. He began to receive widespread attention as a public intellectual in the late 2010s ...

External links

An AnandTech Interview with Jim Keller: 'The Laziest Person at Tesla'
by Dr. Ian Cutress on June 17, 2021

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keller, Jim Living people AMD people 21st-century American engineers Apple Inc. employees Computer hardware engineers Digital Equipment Corporation people Intel people Tesla, Inc. people 1950s births Year of birth missing (living people)