System76 is announcing one of their most innovative and interesting products going back to their Launch Configurable Keyboard and HP Dev One collaboration: the System76 Thelio Astra. The Thelio Astra is a high-end ARM64 desktop system geared for developers with a focus on AI / STEM / self-driving technologies and powered by Ampere Computing and NVIDIA.

System76 designed the Thelio Astra in collaboration with Ampere Computing. The System76 Thelio Astra makes use of Ampere Altra processors up to the Ampere Altra Max 128-core ARMv8 processor that in turn supports 8-channel DDR4 ECC memory. The Thelio Astra can be configured with up to 512GB of system memory, choice of Ampere Altra processors, up to NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation graphics, dual 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and up to 16TB of PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD storage. System76 designed the Thelio Astra ARM64 workstation to be complemented by NVIDIA graphics given the pervasiveness of NVIDIA GPUs/accelerators for artificial intelligence and machine learning workloads.

Of course, the System76 Thelio Astra isn’t limited to ADAS / SDV / AV / AI / ML workloads but can be used for any other task as well where you are seeking speedy ARM64 Linux development. For instance, Linux creator Linus Torvalds for a number of months now has been doing more ARM64 Linux testing with an Ampere Altra Max workstation. Hell you can just use this as a glorified Linux desktop if really trying to avoid x86_64 or similar reasons for choosing ARM.

The other major OEMs/ODMs offering Ampere Altra products have focused on servers. So even four years after Ampere Altra first appeared, the System76 Thelio Astra is the first major ARM64 Linux desktop readily available and using these high core count ARMv8 processors.