Asus is offering a new USB AI accelerator card. (Image source: Asus)
Asus is offering a new accelerator card in the form of a USB stick, which is said to offer a performance of 40 TOPS, allowing for the local acceleration of AI models. Pre-trained models can be used.
Expansion cards for PC systems are nothing new, with dedicated graphics cards being a must for demanding gamers. We’ve previously reported on expansion cards for accelerating AI models, although these are probably no longer strictly necessary for many modern PCs thanks to NPUs integrated into APUs. Nevertheless, such expansion cards can still be useful for increasing the AI perf…
Asus is offering a new USB AI accelerator card. (Image source: Asus)
Asus is offering a new accelerator card in the form of a USB stick, which is said to offer a performance of 40 TOPS, allowing for the local acceleration of AI models. Pre-trained models can be used.
Expansion cards for PC systems are nothing new, with dedicated graphics cards being a must for demanding gamers. We’ve previously reported on expansion cards for accelerating AI models, although these are probably no longer strictly necessary for many modern PCs thanks to NPUs integrated into APUs. Nevertheless, such expansion cards can still be useful for increasing the AI performance of existing systems. Asus has now announced one such card, the UGen300.
This is a USB expansion card that communicates via USB 3.1 Gen 2 and so requires no installation into a PCI slot nor opening of the PC case. The device is equipped with a Hailo 10H NPU, which is said to achieve a performance of 40 TOPS (INT4), and its typical power consumption is specified at 2.5 watts, making it very low to practically negligible. 8 GB of LPDDR4 RAM is on board, which is unlikely to be sufficient for hardcore AI enthusiasts since dedicated AI builds usually have well over 100 GB of RAM.
It is reportedly compatible with both x86 and ARM platforms, Windows, Linux and Android devices, as well as various frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, and ONNX. According to Asus, over 100 pre-trained models are available for use. A typical application could be advanced image or pattern recognition and interpretation. No information on price or availability is available at this time.
Passive cooling appears to be integrated. (Image source: Asus)
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Editor of the original article: Silvio Werner - Senior Tech Writer - 16307 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2017
I have been active as a journalist for over 10 years, most of it in the field of technology. I worked for Tom’s Hardware and ComputerBase, among others, and have been working for Notebookcheck since 2017. My current focus is particularly on mini PCs and single-board computers such as the Raspberry Pi – so in other words, compact systems with a lot of potential. In addition, I have a soft spot for all kinds of wearables, especially smartwatches. My main profession is as a laboratory engineer, which is why neither scientific contexts nor the interpretation of complex measurements are foreign to me.
Translator: Jacob Fisher - Translator - 2681 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2022
Growing up in regional Australia, I first became acquainted with computers in my early teens after a broken leg from a football (soccer) match temporarily condemned me to a predominately indoor lifestyle. Soon afterwards I was building my own systems. Now I live in Germany, having moved here in 2014, where I study philosophy and anthropology. I am particularly fascinated by how computer technology has fundamentally and dramatically reshaped human culture, and how it continues to do so.
Silvio Werner, 2026-01-10 (Update: 2026-01-10)