It turns out that while the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 graphics card is available through AMD's various AIB (add-in board) partners, these cards will not be available in the DIY retail channel, and instead only be available through system builders—from large workstation OEMs to smaller, noteworthy workstation system integrators. The XFX website mentions that its Radeon AI PRO R9700 graphics card, which is visibly identical to the AMD reference design, is "coming soon to select system builders."

AMD's decision to sell the Radeon AI PRO R9700 through OEMs aligns with the fact that while AIBs are given some leeway to customize their board designs, all of these come with the same workstation-friendly design with a 2-slot lateral airflow cooling solution with 12V-2x6 power connectors located at the tail end, and air intakes and backplate clearances designed to allow for up to four of these cards to be installed next to each other, with sufficient airflow for the cards that are sandwiched. The PRO R9700 is a variant of the Radeon RX 9070 XT gaming GPU that comes with 32 GB of memory, and is intended for a range of use-cases spanning from edge AI acceleration to professional visualization.