cstm.ai · Custom AI hardware, software & developmentVendor-neutral · Quote onlyBuilt to spec
cstmAI™· Custom AI hardware, software & development

Custom AI, built to spec.

The hardware, the software and the engineers, delivered as one system you own.

Reel 01 · Vertical assembly, NASA Michoud Assembly Facility, 2024
Three parts, one system

Metal, stack and the people who build on it.

Most vendors sell one of these and leave you to integrate the rest. We specify the hardware, ship the software on it and write the custom code on top, so one team answers for whether it works.

CSTM-HW · REV ASheet 1 of 3
Two technicians in cleanroom suits and blue gloves lowering an electronics box, wrapped in wiring harnesses, onto a spacecraft deck

Hardware

Vendor-neutral AI systems in four sizes, specified to the models you'll run and the people who'll use them.

01Desk, Rack, Cluster and Edge configurations
02Sourced across vendors; no lock-in
03Burn-in tested before it ships
04Installed on site, supported after
Custom AI hardware →
CSTM-SW · REV ASheet 2 of 3
Row of technicians at instrument consoles with dial gauges and vacuum chambers in a 1970s materials test laboratory

Software

The cstmAI™ stack that ships on every system: serving, search, agents, evaluation, governance and connectors.

01Open-weight models served on your hardware
02Cited answers from your documents
03Agents with human approval steps
04Audit logs, permissions and redaction
Custom AI software →
CSTM-DEV · REV ASheet 3 of 3
Technician in a cleanroom smock and blue gloves assembling a small instrument box at a bench fitted with a binocular microscope

Development

Engineers who build the agents, applications and integrations on top, and hand everything over.

01Two-week discovery sprint
02Fixed-scope builds against an evaluation set
03Agents, apps, document AI, fine-tuning
04You own the code, prompts, evals and weights
Custom AI development →
Build process

From first call to running in your rack.

Each phase ends with a review and a go/no-go. A first system is typically in production 8–12 weeks after discovery begins.

012 weeks

Discovery

Pick the workflow, audit the data, size the hardware, write the evaluation set.

  • Use-case ranking
  • Data audit
  • Configuration sheet
  • Quote
024–7 weeks

Build

Software built and scored against the evaluation set, reviewed weekly with your team.

  • Weekly demos
  • Eval scores
  • Integrations
03≈ 1 week

Burn-in

Hardware assembled and run under sustained load on our bench, with the software loaded.

  • Stress tests
  • Imaging
  • Acceptance run
041–2 weeks

Install

Racked, cabled, networked and joined to your identity provider, on your site.

  • Site install
  • SSO + roles
  • Handover
05Ongoing

Operate

Your team runs it with our runbooks, or we run it for you. Models updated as they improve.

  • Monitoring
  • Model updates
  • Quarterly evals
Typical first system: 8–12 weeks to productionThe full process →
Reel 02 · Factory floor, NASA Michoud Assembly Facility, 2019Every system is assembled and load-tested before it ships.
FAQ

Custom AI, answered plainly.

What is custom AI?

Custom AI is an AI system built around one organization's own work (its documents, procedures and systems) instead of a general-purpose tool used as it comes. With cstmAI that means the hardware it runs on, the software that serves and governs it, and the code our engineers write on top, all specified for you.

How is a custom AI project priced?

By quote, because scope drives cost. Every project starts with a two-week discovery sprint that ends in a written plan, a hardware configuration sheet and a quote for the build. You decide whether to continue at that point.

How long does it take to build a custom AI system?

Discovery takes two weeks. A first system is typically in production 8–12 weeks after discovery begins, depending on hardware lead times and integration work. Multi-node clusters and facility work take longer, and we date the plan after the site survey.

Why buy AI hardware instead of using a cloud API?

Control over where data goes, predictable cost once usage is steady, and the ability to run with no internet connection. Cloud APIs are a good place to experiment. If your workload doesn't justify hardware yet, we'll say so in discovery.

Are we tied to one hardware vendor?

No. We specify systems from multiple vendors and choose each component on workload fit, availability and support. The configuration sheet records why every part was chosen.

Which AI models can a custom system run?

Open-weight models such as Llama, Qwen, Mistral, DeepSeek, Gemma and gpt-oss, plus embedding, speech and vision models. We test candidates on your own tasks and choose on score, speed and hardware cost.

Who owns what you build?

You own the hardware outright, and the code, prompts, evaluation sets and any fine-tuned model weights we create are delivered to your own repositories and storage.

Can custom AI support HIPAA, SOC 2 or GDPR requirements?

cstmAI supports HIPAA, SOC 2 and GDPR programs with on-premises deployment, access control, audit logging, retention settings and redaction. Compliance belongs to your organization's program, and we document how each control maps to it.

Get a quote

Spec your system.

Tell us the models you want to run, how many people will use them and where the hardware should live. An engineer replies with a first configuration and the questions that decide the quote.

Form CSTM-Q · Quote only