The RTX Spark pairs a Blackwell GPU with an Arm-based CPU and up to 128GB of memory, targeting creators, AI developers, and gamers
Samuel Boivin / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Nvidia $NVDA unveiled the RTX Spark, its first chip designed to serve as the main processor in Windows PCs, debuting in laptops and compact desktops from ASUS, Dell $DELL, HP $HPQ, Lenovo, Microsoft $MSFT Surface, and MSI this fall, with models from Acer and GIGABYTE to follow.
At its core, the RTX Spark fuses one of Nvidia's Blackwell graphics processors together with a custom N1X CPU built on Arm architecture — a chip MediaTek designed specifically for the platform — linked through Nvidia's NVLink interconnect, according to CNBC. It offers up to 128GB of unified memory and delivers 1 petaflop of AI compute, the company said. Production of the chip relies on TSMC $TSM's 3-nanometer fabrication technology.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced the chip at Nvidia's GTC Taipei conference on Monday. "For forty years, you launched apps. Click. Type. With RTX Spark and Microsoft Windows, you ask — and the PC does the work," Jensen Huang said in a statement.
The chip is targeted at creators, AI developers, and gamers, the company said. The company's roadmap calls for the RTX Spark platform to eventually underpin upward of 30 laptop models and a dozen or more compact desktops, according to CNBC. Entry-point devices in the RTX Spark lineup will measure just 14 millimeters at their slimmest and land at the higher end of the market, with Nvidia noting that stripped-down versions carrying less memory are planned for buyers with tighter budgets.
Nvidia and Microsoft are collaborating to build security features for running AI agents on the devices, including new Windows security primitives and a runtime called Nvidia OpenShell, which lets users control what agents can and cannot do and route queries based on privacy preferences, the company said.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called the chip "a real breakthrough" toward delivering what he described as "unmetered intelligence to every home and every desk with Windows," in a statement.
Adobe $ADBE is rearchitecting Photoshop and Premiere for RTX Spark, with the companies saying the new platform will deliver up to 2x faster AI and graphics performance across creative workflows, the company said. Updates to those apps are expected to begin rolling out alongside the chip's fall availability.
RTX Spark uses an Arm-based processor architecture, placing it in competition with chips from Intel $INTC and AMD $AMD, which have long dominated the PC market with x86 processors. Windows on Arm is not new ground — Qualcomm $QCOM has shipped processors for the platform for years — and Apple $AAPL's homegrown silicon has run its Mac computers since 2020, according to Yahoo Finance. As a benchmark for buyers, Nvidia pegged the chip's graphics output as roughly matching what its discrete RTX 5070 laptop GPU delivers.
Join 500,000+ readers who start their day with Quartz.
By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
