James B. Keller (born 1958/1959) is an American

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor (computing), processor for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, a ...

engineer best known for his work at AMD,

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

, and Tesla. He was the lead architect of the AMD K8 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. ...

) and was involved in designing the

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

(K7) and Apple A4/ 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 extension of the x86 instruction set architecture, instruction set. It was announced in 1999 and first available in the AMD Opteron family in 2003. It introduces two new ope ...

instruction set and HyperTransport 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 In computer science, an instruction set architecture (ISA) is an abstract model that generally defines how software controls the CPU in a com ...

and

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

microarchitectures.

Education

He graduated 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 Pennsyl ...

in 1980 with a B.S. in electrical engineering.

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 Alpha 21164 and the

Alpha 21264 The Alpha 21264, also known by its code name, EV6, is a RISC microprocessor developed by Digital Equipment Corporation launched on 19 October 1998. The 21264 implemented the Alpha instruction set architecture (ISA). Description The Alpha 2126 ...

processors. Prior to DEC, he had worked at Harris Corporation 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 AMD K8 microarchitecture, which also included designing the x86-64 instruction set and HyperTransport interconnect, mainly used for

multiprocessor Multiprocessing (MP) 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. The ...

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 multinational corporation, multinational designer, developer, manufacturer, and global supplier of a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Broadcom's product offerings serve the data cen ...

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

iPhone 4 The iPhone 4 is a smartphone that was developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the List of iPhone models, fourth generation of the iPhone lineup, succeeding the iPhone 3GS and preceding the iPhone 4s. Following a number of notable leaks, ...

, 4S,

iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...

and

iPad 2 The iPad 2 is a tablet computer, tablet developed and marketed by Apple Inc. Compared to IPad (1st generation), the first iPad, as the second model in the iPad line, it gained a faster multi-core processor, dual core Apple A5, A5 processor, a ...

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

and ARM

microarchitecture In electronics, computer science and 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 ...

s called

and K12. After years of being unable to compete with

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

in the high-end CPU market, AMD restored its ability to do just that with the new generation of Zen processors. On September 18, 2015 Keller left AMD. In January 2016, Keller joined Tesla, Inc. as Vice President of Autopilot Hardware Engineering. In April 2018, Keller joined

, where he served as Senior Vice President. He resigned from Intel in June 2020, officially citing personal reasons, though a later report said his departure was catalyzed by a dispute about whether the company should outsource more of its production. Keller joined AI chip startup Tenstorrent as CTO in December 2020 and became its CEO in January 2023. 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.

Personal life

Jim Keller was born in New Jersey as the second of six children. His father worked at General Electric Aerospace as a mechanical engineer and his mother was a stay-at-home mother during his childhood before becoming a therapist later in life. Jim Keller's wife Bonnie is the sister of Canadian author and clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson.

References

External links

An AnandTech Interview with Jim Keller: 'The Laziest Person at Tesla'
by Dr. Ian Cutress on June 17, 2021 {{DEFAULTSORT:Keller, Jim 1950s births 21st-century American engineers AMD people Apple Inc. employees Computer hardware engineers Digital Equipment Corporation people Intel people Living people Pennsylvania State University alumni Tesla, Inc. people Year of birth missing (living people)