Glossary
TPU
A Tensor Processing Unit, Google's custom chip designed for AI workloads.
The Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) is a chip Google designs specifically for the math used in neural networks. Google uses TPUs to train and run its own models and rents them to customers through its cloud.
TPUs are an example of a custom AI chip, an alternative to general-purpose GPUs. News about companies agreeing to use TPUs matters because it signals competition in AI hardware and new revenue for Google's cloud business.
TPU generations have different names and capabilities. Comparisons with GPUs depend on the specific chips, the task, and the software used.