SAN FRANCISCO — February 25, 2026 — Akash said it has opened early access to the open beta of Akash Homenode, a platform designed to let owners of eligible consumer-grade GPUs contribute compute capacity from personal machines to the Akash Network and earn rewards.
The company said the initial rollout (Phase 1) is focused on high-end systems equipped with NVIDIA RTX 4090 or RTX 5090 GPUs, with support for additional hardware profiles planned in later phases. Akash framed the program as an effort to expand the available pool of decentralized compute for AI workloads, developers, and enterprises by tapping into hardware already deployed outside traditional data centers.
Akash said Homenode is part of its StarCluster initiative, which it describes as a globally distributed AI compute network. The company said the early-access phase will onboard home operators, small colocated setups, and repurposed mining rigs to evaluate performance and reliability before a broader public launch.
Cheng Wang, Chief Operating & Financial Officer at Overclock Labs, said the project is starting with the RTX 4090/5090 segment to set a high-performance baseline, while aiming to scale support to a wider range of devices over time. Wang said the waitlist is intended to help the company assess where supply exists and which hardware configurations to prioritize next.
Akash said Homenode is distributed as a dedicated operating system delivered via an ISO image. According to the company, users install the OS using a USB drive and boot into a “locked-down” environment intended to isolate workloads and improve security. Akash added that users can choose to dual-boot or partition a device so that a standard operating system remains separate from the Homenode environment.
Greg Osuri, Founder of Akash and CEO of Overclock Labs, said decentralized cloud infrastructure should extend beyond data centers and that launching with high-end consumer GPUs is intended to support AI workloads at the start, while creating a path to expand participation.
Separately, Akash said it is also onboarding a broader set of GPU owners as hardware support expands, citing interest in additional NVIDIA RTX (20–50 series), GTX (9–16 series), Quadro, and workstation-class cards. Early access to Akash Homenode is available now via a waitlist, the company said.
