Nvidia opened Taipei’s massive Computex trade show on Sunday with a spark, literally. The chipmaker unveiled a new PC CPU called the RTX Spark, which it called a “superchip” and named a list of PC makers that will soon deliver AI computers powered by it.
The ultra-fast 1 petaflop chip is designed to safely run artificial intelligence agents like OpenClaw or Hermes Agent, according to Nvidia. Such RTX Spark Windows PCs will be available this fall from ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft Surface, and MSI, with models from Acer and Gigabyte to follow.
In addition to being equipped with secure sandboxes (developed jointly with Microsoft) to safely run agents, computers will also have enough CPU, GPU, RAM, and Nvidia CUDA underlying software to run localized versions of large language models.
Nvidia said its RTX technology will deliver faster AI performance, better image quality and support for AI features in more than 1,000 games and apps.
The chipmaker is marketing it as an alternative for creators creating AI content, as well as a significant upgrade to the traditional gamer market. Nvidia said more than 100 Windows software makers have signed on to support the new chip, including Adobe, Blender, ComfyUI, Riot Games and Xbox.
But Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang’s vision for these new computers is much bigger. It wants to end the days of launching apps, pointing, clicking and typing.
“With RTX Spark and Microsoft Windows, you ask — and the computer does the work,” he said in the press release. “Border models. Creative workflows. RTX gaming. All on a laptop.”
Last month, after delivering another record quarter, Huang promised investors that he had found a new $200 billion market for Nvidia in selling AI CPUs, not just GPUs. He made specific reference to the high-end server CPU released earlier this year called Vera — of which Nvidia says it has already sold $20 billion worth.
He also hinted at his bigger ambitions. “We’re going to have billions of agents, and those billions of agents will all be using tools. And those tools will be like computers, like we humans use computers today,” he said on the earnings call in May. “We’re going to need a lot more processors.”
Nvidia ARM-based Windows devices have been tried before — and failed. Back in 2013, Microsoft had to write off $900 million on the Nvidia ARM-based Surface RT, with partners like Dell also underwriting the product.
But at this point, after delivering record-breaking quarterly revenue, it’s hard to bet against Huang as he once again pursues his PC dreams.
And this chip is a completely different beast. It’s stronger, not less. Microsoft is pitching its own RTX Spark PC so powerful that it’s called it the Surface Laptop Ultra, and it is calling it “the most powerful Surface Laptop ever made.”
However, the PC makers haven’t released many details about each of their offerings, including pricing. These systems appear to be full versions of Windows DGX Spark mini computer which Nvidia already sells to developers for around $4,800.
We’ll have to wait and see if these computers will compete in price with the affordable Mac Mini that has become a popular choice for running OpenClaw. Or maybe they’ll be at the top of the PC market, like Nvidia’s dealer-run mini PC.
Either way, if Nvidia has cracked the code to bring AI agents easily, safely and usefully to the masses, it could – and should – be big.
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