Untether AI files for bankruptcy following AMD acquihire

What’s left of Toronto-based artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaker Untether AI has filed for bankruptcy.

Untether shut down earlier this year and entered into an acquihire agreement with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), a key rival to both Intel and Nvidia, sending over its software and AI hardware engineering employees. The fate of its assets and intellectual property remained unclear at the time. On Oct. 14, Untether filed a notice of bankruptcy to creditors and appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers as its trustee.

Untether has nearly $25 million in assets and just over $128 million in liabilities.

The bankruptcy documents cite a “lack of working capital/funding” as the reason for Untether’s financial difficulties. The Globe and Mail reported earlier this year that Nvidia’s dominance of the AI chip market and economic uncertainty from the United States’ tariffs cratered Untether’s fundraising attempts, leading to the carveout acquisition deal with AMD.

BetaKit reached out to Untether AI for comment on the bankruptcy, but did not receive a response before our publication deadline.

According to its statement of affairs, Untether has nearly $25 million in assets (in the form of cash on hand) and just over $128 million in liabilities to unsecured creditors, leaving a deficiency of $103.6 million. Untether’s only other assets outside of cash are its intellectual property and lab equipment, which are valued at one dollar each. The statement of affairs is signed by Untether director Tomi Poutanen, co-founder and partner of early Untether backer Radical Ventures.

Untether’s investors are among its largest unsecured creditors, which include $33 million to Middlefield Ventures, $28.5 million split between two of Radical Ventures’ funds, nearly $20 million to TCM-Untether Holdings, $18.3 million across two General Motors Ventures funds, and $14.8 million to the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board.

Untether AI was founded in 2018 by Martin Snelgrove, Darrick Wiebe, and Raymond Chik to develop chips designed to help AI workloads “run faster and cooler.” Untether marketed its chips as faster and more energy-efficient than its rivals, claiming to offer “energy-centric AI inference acceleration from the edge to the cloud.”

Untether AI raised $152 million USD (approximately $208 million CAD) over its lifetime, including $125 million USD in financing in 2021. In early 2024, the company brought on Intel veteran Chris Walker to replace Arun Iyengar, who had led Untether AI as CEO for most of its existence. At the time, Walker told BetaKit that the company was fundraising. Walker left Untether AI one month before the AMD deal, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Tariffs have brought other Canadian companies to the point of insolvency this year, including Montréal-based online fashion retailer Ssense and Toronto-based sleep tech company S m art Nora. Untether’s deal with AMD also reflects a steady stream of Canadian AI hardware companies looking to the United States for support, including Nvidia’s acquisition of CentML and Tenstorrent redomiciling down south in pursuit of funding.

Snelgrove, Chik, and other members of the Untether team have since founded Toronto-based Hepzibah AI to continue their work in energy-efficient compute architecture. Two Small Fish Ventures co-founder Allen Lau told BetaKit in March that his firm invested an undisclosed amount into Hepzibah last year.

Feature image courtesy Untether AI.