Startup backed by the world’s largest battery maker just launched a supercheap mini PC that competes with Nvidia’s $5000 AI DGX Spark PC
- Tiny desktop system claims massive language model performance at dramatically lower costs
- Proprietary G≡LIX 1 chip delivers 700 TOPS for local AI workloads
- Agent Box runs advanced AI models entirely without relying on cloud services
Singapore-based startup Acrab has unveiled the Agent Box, a mini PC built to run 100 billion parameter language models entirely on local hardware.
The device is powered by a proprietary chip called G≡LIX 1, manufactured using a 5nm process for efficient edge computing.
Acrab claims the system delivers performance close to Nvidia‘s $5,000 DGX Spark while cutting costs to roughly one-fifth and halving power consumption.
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A custom chip built for local AI workloads
The G≡LIX 1 processor combines a 20-core Arm CPU, a GPU rated at 3 TFLOPS, and a multicore neural processing unit tuned specifically for large language model inference.
It draws on 273GB/s of high-bandwidth unified memory alongside an 8MB L1 cache and a 768GB/s L2 cache.
Acrab says the chip reaches 700 TOPS of processing power while keeping the entire system compact enough to sit on a desk.
The NPU is balanced against the general-purpose compute unit, and VAE vector acceleration reportedly speeds up attention processing by up to three times.
Beyond the core processor, the SoC integrates a video DSP cluster, multiple camera input subsystems, and a high-resolution display engine within a single unified architecture.
In internal testing, the company recorded a prefill rate of 1,416.8 tokens per second under a Gemma 26B A4B configuration with a 40K KV cache and a 10K token input.
That compares with 188.9 tokens per second on an Apple Mac Mini M4 Pro, representing a claimed 7.5 times improvement in prefill speed over conventional consumer hardware.
“Generative AI helped people find answers. Agentic AI will help them get things done,” said Dr. Ken Phua, CEO of Acrab.
Software ecosystem expands beyond the hardware
Beyond the hardware specifications, Acrab says Agent Box includes a complete software platform featuring AI runtimes, developer toolchains, operating system capabilities, reference designs, and orchestration software for autonomous agents.
Demonstrations released by the company showed voice commands automatically creating and printing 3D models, operating robotic vacuum cleaners, and interacting with connected devices including smart lights, smart air conditioners, and smart locks.
Acrab says keeping inference on the device can reduce token costs, protect sensitive information locally, maintain operation during limited internet connectivity, and provide persistent memory for personalised AI assistants.
The company also plans to extend its computing platform into AI NAS systems, network-attached storage systems, industrial robots, service robots, and smart vehicles through partnerships with hardware manufacturers.
Although Acrab has disclosed limited corporate information, copyright notices accompanying its announcement reference CATL, the world’s largest electric vehicle battery manufacturer.
If that relationship accurately reflects financial backing, the announcement could attract additional attention because of CATL’s scale and resources.
“Our goal is to give device makers and developers the foundation to bring agentic intelligence into many different products and environments,” Dr. Phua said.
“Agent Box demonstrates what the technology can do today, while GΞLIX 1 and our full-stack platform are designed to support a much broader ecosystem of devices and applications.”
Via PC Watch
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Tiny desktop system claims massive language model performance at dramatically lower costs Proprietary G≡LIX 1 chip delivers 700 TOPS for local AI workloads Agent Box runs advanced AI models entirely without relying on cloud services Singapore-based startup Acrab has unveiled the Agent Box, a mini PC built to run 100…
