Throw Out Your PC. Buy a Supercomputer!

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas is wrapping up today.

While I’m not there this year, I’ve been following all the announcements and talking to colleagues at the event.

Some of my favorites are an electric U9 supercar from BYE that can jump over potholes…

This would have been useful when I lived in Manhattan!

We are inching closer to cyborgs with this neural wristband from Mudra that can turn your hand into a mouse or a keyboard using gestures…

And Portalgraph demoed a 3D projector that projects VR into the real world.

But the biggest announcement came from none other than Nvidia.

And I believe it could be a game-changer for AI.

Project Digits

During Monday’s keynote speech, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced a new mini-PC.

He called it: “the new way of doing computing, the new way of doing software.”

But he might be underselling it.

Because what he unveiled was a powerful supercomputer that’s small enough to fit into a purse.

Nvidia is calling it “Project Digits.”

This fascinating device puts Nvidia in direct competition with companies like Intel, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Qualcomm in the business computing space.

Here’s what it looks like on the inside:

You can see the specs in the image above. For me the most important thing to know is that it uses Nvidia’s new GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip and offers a petaFLOP of computing power.

That’s 1000X the power of the average laptop!

This incredible amount of power enables Project Digits to run complex AI models locally.

In other words, with this device you don’t need a large data center to run the large language models (LLM) that drive AI. That will significantly reduce the time it takes to run them locally.

And it will open up a new range of possibilities for AI developers.

What’s the Big Deal?

One of the biggest criticisms of artificial intelligence is its barrier to entry.

But there’s a good reason for it…

Because it costs a massive amount of money to train and operate AI models.

That’s why the development of AI technology has mostly been led by large tech companies and governments.

But that’s not how you create a technology revolution.

The PC revolution was driven by individual hobbyists experimenting and tinkering with computers.

And the internet was practically a wasteland before it became accessible to the masses through AOL.

I believe Project Digits could be the key to making AI more useful and more accessible to everyone.

Because it’s going to make AI technology available to people who want to push this technology forward but who might not have had access to it because of its cost.

You can’t complain about its $3,000 price tag either.

I know it might seem steep, but consider the cost of Apple’s first computer, the Apple I.

When it was released in 1976, it sold for $666. That’s over $3,600 in today’s money…

Making Project Digits a comparative bargain!

Of course, the target audience for this device at launch will be developers, researchers and data scientists.

Anyone who needs full-power LLMs running locally.

And since each device is preloaded with Nvidia’s entire AI Enterprise software stack, they’ll have everything they need to get started.

I can see it having an immediate impact on robotics and autonomous systems.

But the beauty of this device is that it’s going to get more people involved in developing AI solutions.

Students, hobbyists, small businesses… maybe even you.

If you’re interested in trying out Project Digits, you can sign up on Nvidia’s website for notifications.

I’ll be keeping an eye on this exciting technology once it’s launched in May.

Regards,

Ian King
Chief Strategist, Banyan Hill Publishing