Hardware #001 · AI Compute
I want to run serious AI locally.
Apple · Mac Studio · M5 · by Matthias
- Physical sticker on the hardware
- Featured on this campaign page
- Included in every build update
- Recorded permanently in the public ledger
These are examples only. Real sponsor logos appear on the live machine above and in every build update.
Build Promise
Every euro is recorded in the public ledger. The machine is bought within 7 days of hitting target, with the receipt uploaded as evidence. Weekly build updates for 12 weeks. If the campaign is cancelled before purchase, paid sponsorships are refunded.
- What are you building?
- An open toolkit for running and fine-tuning local language models on Apple Silicon: batch document processing, private RAG over your own files, and reproducible eval runs, all offline.
- Why this hardware?
- Local inference on a 64GB M4 Max means models up to ~70B run entirely on-device with no per-token cost and no data leaving the machine. Cloud rental for equivalent sustained use costs more than the machine within months.
- What will you ship?
- Open-source repo (MIT), a written teardown of local-model performance on M4 Max, and 3 short demo videos.
- What do sponsors receive?
- Physical logo spot on the machine for the exposure period, a listing in the public sponsor ledger, a thank-you post, and a copy of the performance teardown before it is published.
Spots & sponsors
- 01AvailableTop plate · center · top-centerlarge · 80×30 mmmin €400
- 02AvailableTop plate · front edge · top-frontmedium · 60×20 mmmin €200
- 03AvailableTop plate · rear edge · top-rearmedium · 60×20 mmmin €180
- 04AvailableFront face · left · front-leftsmall · 30×15 mmmin €90
- 05AvailableFront face · right · front-rightsmall · 30×15 mmmin €90
- 06AvailableLeft side · upper · left-uppersmall · 25×25 mmmin €75
- 07AvailableLeft side · lower · left-lowersmall · 25×25 mmmin €75
- 08AvailableRight side · upper · right-uppersmall · 25×25 mmmin €75
- 09AvailableRight side · lower · right-lowersmall · 25×25 mmmin €75
- 10AvailableRear I/O band · rear-bandmedium · 70×15 mmmin €150
Founder
- Who:
- Matthias
- Building:
- An open toolkit for running and fine-tuning local language models on Apple Silicon: batch document processing, private RAG over your own files, and reproducible eval runs, all offline.
- Why this hardware:
- Local inference on a 64GB M4 Max means models up to ~70B run entirely on-device with no per-token cost and no data leaving the machine. Cloud rental for equivalent sustained use costs more than the machine within months.
- The promise:
- Every euro is recorded in the public ledger. The machine is bought within 7 days of hitting target, with the receipt uploaded as evidence. Weekly build updates for 12 weeks. If the campaign is cancelled before purchase, paid sponsorships are refunded.
What the money buys
- cpu
- up to 18-core
- gpu
- up to 40-core
- chip
- M5 Max
- announced
- 2026-08-25
- memory gb
- 128
- storage tb
- 1
Required specs: Apple M4 Max, 64GB unified memory, 1TB SSD, 32-core GPU.
Recent activity
Full ledger →Rows are written server-side from verified payment webhooks and are never edited. Corrections appear as new compensating events.
Common questions
Is this real?+
Yes. Payments are verified server-side from a signed Whop webhook, never from a redirect or a status in the URL. Every euro that lands is written to the public, append-only ledger. Refunds are not deletions; they show up as compensating entries.
Why this hardware?+
The builder names one exact machine, its configuration, and a reference price, with a source link and the date it was last checked. Not "a laptop": a specific model you can look up yourself.
What do I actually get as a sponsor?+
A physical spot on the machine for the campaign's exposure period, a listing in the public ledger, and a thank-you from the builder, plus whatever else the campaign's sponsor benefits spell out.
How does payment work?+
You check out through Whop and are charged once. Your support only counts as paid after the verified webhook arrives; being redirected back to the site is never treated as proof of payment.
What if I'm outbid?+
Spots are allocated in Postgres under a row lock. If someone bids higher on the same spot, the higher bid takes it and the lower one is recorded as outbid. Nothing is ever charged twice.
Can any brand join?+
Yes. You choose whether to appear by name or as an anonymous supporter, and the creator can decline a placement they don't want on their machine.
Why not just buy the hardware myself?+
The campaign funds one named builder's machine and documents fulfillment in public. Sponsorship buys visible placement on that build and the association with it, not the hardware.
Can I do this myself as a builder?+
Yes, start a campaign. Pick the machine, write the Build Promise, and set the spots and their minimum prices.