SpacemiT K3 Pico-ITX: Compact 60 TOPS RISC-V AI Computer

A 2.5-inch Pico-ITX plus single-board computer built around the SpacemiT K3 RVA23 AI CPU. 60 TOPS, 10GbE SFP+, NVMe expansion, and 65W single-cable power for robotics, edge AI, and industrial vision.

K3Pico-ITXEdge AI60 TOPSRVA23

Overview

The SpacemiT K3 Pico-ITX is a compact single-board computer (SBC) built around the SpacemiT K3 — the first RVA23-compliant RISC-V AI CPU in mass production. Measuring just 100 mm × 86 mm in a 2.5-inch Pico-ITX plus form factor, it delivers 60 TOPS of AI compute, dual-channel LPDDR5 memory, 10GbE fiber networking, and dual M.2 expansion slots in a fan-cooled or passively cooled industrial package.

It is designed for developers and system integrators who need a production-ready, high-performance RISC-V platform for edge AI, robotics, computer vision, and industrial control without the size and power envelope of a full server board.

Key Specifications

SoC	SpacemiT K3, 8x X100 @ 2.4 GHz + 8x A100 AI cores
ISA Profile	RVA23 (64-bit application processor profile)
AI Compute	60 TOPS INT8
General Compute	130,000 DMIPS
Memory	Dual-channel LPDDR5 6400 MT/s, 16 GB or 32 GB
Onboard Storage	UFS 2.2, 128 GB or 256 GB
Display	DP over full-feature USB-C (4K@60), 40-pin eDP (2.5K@90)
Ethernet	1x RJ45 1 GbE, 1x SFP+ 10GbE (10G-BASE-R / 10G-BASE-X)
Wireless	Onboard PCIe Wi-Fi 6 + BT 5.2 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax, dual-band)
USB	2x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C (1x full-feature DP, 1x OTG), 4x USB 2.0 Type-A
Expansion	M.2 M-Key 2280 (PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe), M.2 B-Key 2242/3042 (PCIe Gen3 x2 + USB)
Real-Time I/O	FPC connector: EtherCAT, 5x CAN-FD, SPI, I2C, UART
Audio	Onboard CODEC, line in/out
Debug	UART + JTAG, 3x side buttons (power/reset/firmware upgrade)
Management	Onboard EC for power, thermal, and system state management
Dimensions	100 mm × 86 mm (Pico-ITX plus)
Power	65 W USB-PD over Type-C, or 12 V @ 7 A via 2-pin ATX input
Operating Systems	Bianbu Desktop 3.0 (pre-installed), Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, OpenHarmony 6.0, openKylin, Deepin, Fedora
Temperature	Consumer -20 °C to +70 °C, Industrial -40 °C to +85 °C
Certifications	CCC, CE, FCC EMC

Architecture Highlights

RVA23 and 1024-bit Vector Support

The K3 at the heart of the board is the first mass-production RISC-V chip to implement the RVA23 application profile. This means standard Linux distributions such as Ubuntu 26.04 LTS run natively without per-board patching. The CPU supports the IME vector extension, enabling 1024-bit RVV operations for AI and signal-processing workloads.

Unified CPU + AI Memory

Unlike discrete CPU + NPU designs, the K3 uses a unified memory architecture across the eight X100 general-purpose cores and the eight A100 AI cores. The result is zero-copy data movement for AI inference pipelines and simplified software stacks when deploying 30B-parameter large language models locally.

10GbE Fiber and Industrial Networking

The SFP+ 10GbE port is a standout feature for an SBC at this size. It supports 10G-BASE-R and 10G-BASE-X, with advanced features including QinQ, MSI-X, and Wake-on-LAN. Combined with the real-time EtherCAT and CAN-FD expansion, the board can act as both an AI edge node and a real-time motion controller in robotics cells.

Storage Flexibility

Onboard UFS 2.2 provides 3.4× the speed of typical eMMC SBC storage. The M.2 M-Key slot accepts standard 2280 NVMe SSDs over PCIe Gen3 x4, while the M.2 B-Key slot supports 2242/3042 cellular, AI accelerator, or additional I/O cards.

Use Cases

Edge AI gateway: Run 30B-parameter LLMs, vision models, and multi-modal AI at the edge with 10GbE uplink.
Robotics controller: Combine AI perception with real-time EtherCAT/CAN-FD motor control on a single board.
Industrial vision: eDP display output and USB3 vision cameras for HMI and defect-inspection systems.
Compact server / NAS: NVMe storage plus 10GbE makes it a low-power file or inference server.
RISC-V native development: A small, quiet workstation for compiling and testing RVA23 software.

Getting Started

The board ships pre-installed with Bianbu Desktop 3.0. For headless setups, connect a USB-C PD supply (65 W minimum), an Ethernet cable, and a USB-to-TTL adapter to the debug UART. The default serial console is 115200 8N1.

# Verify architecture and OS
uname -a
# Expected: riscv64 GNU/Linux

# Check CPU cores and extensions
cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep -E "processor|isa|mmu"

# Confirm RVA23 vector extension
riscv64-linux-gnu-gcc -dumpmachine
# riscv64-unknown-linux-gnu or riscv64-linux-gnu

Operating System Options

Bianbu is SpacemiT's Ubuntu-based distribution and the best-supported starting point. For users who need a standard enterprise environment, Ubuntu 26.04 LTS offers native RVA23 support. OpenHarmony 6.0 is available for IoT and smart-device projects, while openKylin, Deepin, and Fedora provide additional desktop-oriented choices.

Power and Thermal Notes

The 65 W USB-PD input is sufficient for the board under full AI load, but sustained 60 TOPS workloads benefit from the optional fan-cooled heatsink or a full metal industrial chassis. The onboard EC implements intelligent thermal management and can throttle or shut down gracefully under over-temperature conditions.