Nvidia introduces device aimed at small companies, hobbyists
Summary
Nvidia said Tuesday that it was introducing a $249 version of its Jetson computer for artificial-intelligence applications, half the price of its predecessor, to attract more hobbyists and small companies.
TOKYO—Nvidia said Tuesday that it was introducing a $249 version of its Jetson computer for artificial intelligence applications, half the price of its predecessor, to attract more hobbyists and small companies.
The Jetson computers are essentially portable brains, mostly designed to allow developers of robots, industrial automation and other hardware to run sophisticated AI computations directly without connecting to a remote data center.
Nvidia’s main customers are big companies and AI startups that spend hundreds of millions or billions of dollars on hardware to train and operate their AI models. With its Jetson lineup, the company is making a play for accessibility, pitching the low-cost devices to small companies, hobbyists and students who want to try creating new products that integrate AI functions.
In a promotional video, Nvidia founder Jensen Huang broke from his usual stagecraft—posing before towering server racks that use Nvidia chips—and instead presented the new palm-sized Jetson device on a tray, as if pulling it fresh from the oven.
The $249 Orin Nano Super nearly doubles the speed and efficiency of the previous device and can process about 70% more computational tasks, Nvidia said. It contains less-advanced chips than those powering Nvidia’s top-of-the-line products and targets commercial developers working on consumer technologies such as drones and cameras. The higher-end Jetson Thor is designed to support humanoid robots and sophisticated automation.
“This is the time, finally, when generative AI capability is coming to the edge," said Deepu Talla, Nvidia’s vice president of robotics and edge computing. “Edge" refers to individual devices in factories and labs as opposed to the large computer centers where most advanced AI work has taken place to date.
Analysts said the Jetson line could diversify Nvidia’s portfolio, in particular by drawing customers who are looking to develop robots.
Other tech companies such as Intel, Google and Qualcomm offer similar edge systems. They could challenge Jetson’s position in edge AI by offering plans tailored to applications such as vision processing.
Asked about rivals, Talla said Nvidia’s product was for general purposes and could run “all the latest greatest generative AI models."
While the U.S. has restricted Nvidia from selling its most advanced hardware in China, the company said the new Jetson product would be available in China through local distributors.
Write to Yang Jie at jie.yang@wsj.com
