Orange Pi AIpro and Huawei: innovation in AI despite US pressure
Huawei Ascend chip delivers 8/20 TOPS AI performance.
Orange Pi, known for its products that compete with Raspberry Pi, has expanded its lineup with a new single board computer (SBC) – the Orange Pi AIpro. This product differs from the company’s previous models as it is equipped with Huawei’s Ascend chip instead of traditional processors from Rockchip, Allwinner or Arm.
The Orange Pi AIpro measures 107 x 68mm, which is roughly the same size as the Orange Pi 5. This is significantly larger than the Raspberry Pi 5 at 85 x 56mm. The Orange Pi AIpro is powered by an unspecified 64-bit Huawei Ascend chip with a quad-core architecture and an integrated AI processor, which the manufacturer claims delivers 8/20 TOPS AI performance. Users can choose a configuration with 8 or 16 GB of LPDDR4X-3200 RAM.
The Orange Pi AIpro comes with an M.2 2280 slot located on the back of the device. It supports NVMe and SATA drives, as well as an additional eMMC slot that meets the eMMC5.1 HS400 specification, allowing you to add another 32-256 GB of memory. There is also a TF slot for memory cards.
The device offers many connection options. It includes Wi-Fi 5 with Bluetooth 4.2 for wireless connections and a standard Gigabit Ethernet port for wired ones. For image output, there are two HDMI 2.0 ports supporting 4K at 60 FPS and one 2-tape MIPI DSI connection. Orange Pi AIpro is also equipped with two 2-tape MIPI interfaces for connecting Raspberry Pi Camera Module compatible cameras and a 3.5mm audio jack.
There are buttons on board the Orange Pi AIpro for quick access to basic functions such as turning off, resetting or switching the startup mode. There is also a connector for connecting a 12-volt fan.
To connect peripheral devices, there are two USB 3.0 type A ports and one USB 3.0 type C port. Another USB type C port is for connecting a power adapter. The standard 40-pin GPIO connector supports interfaces including GPIO, UART, I2C, SPI, I2S and PWM. Supported operating systems include Ubuntu and openEuler.
Orange Pi AIpro is available for pre-order on JD.com. The 8 GB model costs $125.71, and the 16 GB model costs $162.48. The first 1,000 customers are offered a mystery developer kit as a gift. Orders will begin shipping on January 5th.
