Ghost, a new US startup, has launched Core, a personal AI computer to run LLMs locally and will compete directly with Nvidia and AMD. What makes it noteworthy is the fact that they are selling it for $3,499.
This gets you a $3,200 Nvidia RTX Pro 4000 Blackwell SFF GPU with 24GB ECC RAM plus an AMD Ryzen 5 CPU, 64GB DDR5 SODIMM and a 1TB NVMe SSD, all enclosed in a gorgeous metal chassis worth at least $1,800. In other words, a desktop PC worth around $5,000 being sold at a deep discount.
Core goes against 64GB and 128GB versions of Nvidia’s DGX Spark (and a plethora of other similar Nvidia-based desktop workstation). The former will go on sale from October 23rd for $4,999 which explains the buzz around Ghost. How did an obscure entity managed to get parts for way less than the rest of the industry?
What is it?
Zain Javaid, the 19-year old CEO of Ghost, replying to a post on X.com that they “were able to lock down supply of this GPU when it was widely available and $1700 a couple months back. since then prices have doubled so for our next batch will probably need to raise prices. until then we’re happy to pass on our savings to the customer”.
Speaking to TechCrunch, after successfully raising $11 million from Andreessen Horowitz, Nova and a handful of A-list investors, Javaid dismissed the competition, saying “People sometimes give incumbents credit for having already built the product because they have the ingredients”.
Of course, this is a commodity play. Unlike a lot of rivals like say Framework, Ghost has assembled off the shelf parts into a nice package and layered its ‘own software layer, browser and filing system’, that is its IP. Whether or not this can be replicated remains to be seen although I can’t see rivals displaying the same level of generosity with heavily subsidized or at-cost hardware.
The first batch has, unsurprisingly, been sold out completely and will start shipping from October 31. The second batch is most likely to be sold at a much higher price (we don’t know how many parts have been sold) and for all purpose and intent, it has worked well as a viral marketing campaign, grabbing visibility on relevant news outlets and on Reddit. You can already register your interest for the next batch and reserve your Core with a fully refundable $499 deposit.
Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled in website builders and web hosting when DHTML and frames were in vogue and started narrating about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium.