Supplement: Distribution
The new digital domain: why the AI contest is moving to the Edge
The real cutting edge is no longer in the cloud, but in Edge AI, and the global technological contest is being redefined by it. Astute Group has responded by securing a new set of distribution agreements, ensuring customers have direct access to the computing power needed to master this new digital domain.
T
he future of AI is moving away from the cloud, to the Edge. The global technological contest is defined by a fundamental move away from centralised data centres to a distributed network where intelligence resides at the periphery. This is a direct response to a critical challenge: cloud-based AI, with its inherent latency, cannot meet the demand for instantaneous, real-time decision-making in mission-critical applications. The AI inference market, now a front line of this contest, is projected to grow from an estimated USD 113.47 billion in 2025 to over USD 253 billion by 2030, fuelled by the mass adoption of generative AI and the spread of IoT devices. This transition is not a gradual process; it is an imperative.
Overcoming the inference bottleneck The “inference bottleneck” is the main hurdle. Edge devices lack the computational power and memory capacity required for the many floating-point matrix operations that define Large Language Models (LLMs). The industry is answering with purpose-built silicon. Companies are pioneering unique in-memory computing architectures, like Axelera AI’s Metis AI Processing Unit (AIPU), which delivers 214 TOPS at a remarkably low power consumption. By processing data where it is stored, this architecture minimises data movement, dramatically reducing latency and energy usage – a critical consideration for smart cameras, drones, and other devices operating in tightly enclosed or battery-powered environments.
High-performance AI and industrial resilience
This intense demand for high-performance processing, both at the device level and within localised servers, has led to a race for solutions that are both powerful and durable. Astute Group has recognised the strategic
32 September 2025
importance of this and has expanded its new franchise partnerships to provide its customers with the tools they need to overcome these challenges. Innodisk’s Apex Series is a direct answer to this need. This range of AI computing platforms and storage solutions is engineered for intense workloads, including Machine Learning,
Components in Electronics
Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI), and complex LLM applications. These systems deliver extreme performance and ultra-low latency, and are backed by a comprehensive ecosystem of industrial-grade SSDs and DRAM modules. For example, the APEX-X100 uses NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada accelerators, making it suitable for high-
precision medical imaging, RAG/fine-tuning servers, and High-Performance Computing (HPC) applications. Its durable design, which includes wide temperature support and resistance to vibration, ensures these solutions are reliable enough for deployment in harsh industrial environments and smart city infrastructure.
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