At its COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2026 booth, MINISFORUM — a maker known for packing serious expandability into tiny PCs — showed off a new mini workstation called the MS-03. It is the proper successor to the popular MS-01, with its internals rebuilt around Intel's latest Core Ultra processors (Series 3). The booth also displayed a hard-to-read "mysterious expansion card" that drew plenty of attention.

A successor that carries on the popular MS-01

The MS-01 that the MS-03 builds on is a mini workstation roughly 48mm thick that squeezes a PCI Express slot and two 10GbE-capable SFP+ ports into a small chassis. That level of expandability, hard to guess from its compact looks, earned it a strong following among DIY enthusiasts and home-server users, and made it stand out even within MINISFORUM's mini-PC-focused lineup.

The MS-03 keeps that overall design while jumping a full generation ahead inside. The rear port layout stays close to the MS-01, but the HDMI output now supports FRL (Fixed Rate Link), preparing it for higher resolutions and refresh rates. It is a solid update that shores up weak points without disturbing the proven foundation.

Rebuilt on Panther Lake, with PCIe 5.0 and Wi-Fi 7

The CPU is Intel's latest Core Ultra processor (Series 3, codenamed Panther Lake). The top model packs a Core Ultra 9 386H, a 16-core layout of 4 high-performance P-cores, 4 low-power LP E-cores, and 8 E-cores. Its AI-focused NPU is rated at around 50 TOPS, and the power (TDP) budget has been raised compared with the previous generation.

Storage gets a boost as well, with the two M.2 slots now meeting the PCI Express 5.0 standard. Wireless has been upgraded to Wi-Fi 7 (IEEE 802.11be), while wired connectivity keeps the MS-01's two 10GbE-capable SFP+ ports and the PCI Express slot. Despite the small chassis, the design still leans hard into networking and expandability.

The "mysterious expansion card" no one could place

What drew the most attention at the booth was the expansion card plugged into the MS-03's PCI Express slot. The board is printed with "PCIE TO 4," and despite its low-profile form it can hold up to four M.2 SSDs. On top of that it carries an OcuLink port and a USB Type-C port (USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 / USB 20Gbps) — a notably greedy configuration.

The intriguing part is that the card carries AMD's B650 chipset. According to MINISFORUM, the firmware is still being tuned, and the company is aiming to make it work not only on AMD platforms but on Intel platforms as well. At first glance it is hard to tell what the card is for, but the flexibility of bundling four SSDs while adding external connectivity fits the expansion-minded character of the MS-03. This unusual card is slated to ship in the third quarter of 2026.

Summary

The MS-03 moves the MS-01's "small but no-compromise mini workstation" formula firmly forward with the Panther Lake generation, PCI Express 5.0, and Wi-Fi 7. Add in the "PCIE TO 4" card that ties together four M.2 SSDs and even an AMD B650, and there is real fun in imagining how it might be used. We are looking forward to follow-up details on pricing and final specifications.