- Bolt Graphics is building a RISC-V-based GPU to challenge Nvidia
- CUDA support in RISC-V could reduce software barriers for alternative accelerators
- Zeus targets path tracing, HPC, and large memory workloads instead of traditional shaders.
Bolt Graphics is moving forward with its plan to challenge Nvidia and AMD by building a graphics processor around a RISC-V-driven architecture rather than a conventional GPU design.
The Sunnyvale, California-based startup’s Zeus architecture is a ground-up rethinking of graphics, rendering, and high-performance computing workloads.
Instead of relying on traditional shader designs, Zeus combines fixed-function hardware for rasterization, ray tracing, and path tracing with an internal SIMD engine.
A standalone Linux system
Command and programming tasks are handled by a RISC-V processor that also functions as a general-purpose CPU, allowing Zeus to run as a standalone Linux system rather than relying entirely on a host processor.
We wrote about Bolt and Zeus in 2025, and the company used CES 2026 to show off its plans that look even more viable following Nvidia’s decision to bring CUDA support to RISC-V systems.
Since CUDA is no longer tied exclusively to x86 or Arm hosts, a RISC-V-based accelerator stack becomes more practical for developers already invested in Nvidia’s software ecosystem.
Zeus cards support Vulkan and DirectX 12, along with engines such as Unreal and Unity, while also supporting common programming environments used in HPC, including Python, Fortran, and OSL compiled via LLVM.
The prototype add-on card uses a PCIe 5.0 x16 interface and combines LPDDR5X graphics memory with DDR5 SODIMM slots for the RISC-V processor.
Depending on the configuration, the total memory capacity can reach 384 GB on a single board.
Bolt plans several Zeus variants, including the Zeus 1c26-032, Zeus 2c26-064, Zeus 2c26-128, and Zeus 4c26-256, spanning single-chip PCIe cards and multi-chip 2U server designs with a combined memory capacity exceeding 2TB.
Networking is addressed through integrated 400 Gbps and 800 Gbps interfaces intended for render farms and clustered workloads. Those interfaces are designed to allow direct GPU-to-GPU connections without separate network interface cards.
The board also includes hardware BMC and IPMI, features more commonly found in servers than consumer graphics cards.
Power consumption is limited for its class, as the card relies on a single 8-pin PCIe connector for up to 225W, while high-end server configurations scale up to 500W.
Bolt has made some intriguing performance claims (pinch of salt), including several times the path tracing performance of Nvidia’s RTX 5090 and extreme gains in FP64 simulation workloads.
Naturally, those figures are based on internal testing and simulations, and actual validation of the hardware is still pending.
If CUDA on RISC-V gains traction, Bolt’s approach could face fewer software barriers than similar efforts in the past.
Of course, that still leaves execution risk, but the technical direction suggests that Bolt is banking on ecosystem changes rather than brute force scaling alone.
Through TechPowerUp
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