Nvidia Introduces DGX Spark Book-Sized Supercomputer, Hand-Delivers One to Elon Musk

Nvidia has introduced an update to its DGX AI supercomputer, the DGX Spark. The company is calling the new version the world's smallest AI supercomputer and will soon ship it for about $4,000.

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The computer is described as about the size of a piece of origami paper and the thickness of a hardback book (actual dimensions:5.91 inches by 5.91 inches, 1.99 inches thick). 

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The DGX Spark boasts one petaflop of performance power and includes 128GB of unified memory. By comparison, the first DGX computer introduced in 2016 offered 170 teraflops of performance, measured 34.1 inches by 17.48 inches, and was more than five inches thick. It cost $129,000.

To commemorate the impending launch of the DGX Spark, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang hand-delivered a signed computer to Elon Musk at his company, SpaceX, in Starbase, Texas. In 2016, Huang gave a team at OpenAI, including Musk, the first DGX-1 computer. 

Orders for the DGX Spark begin Oct. 15 on Nvidia's website.