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TPU

Visual diagram · (in preparation) · Math · (in preparation) · Worked example · 3 difficulty levels.

TL;DR. Tensor Processing Unit — Google's custom-designed AI accelerator chip.

Technical Definition

Tensor Processing Unit — Google's custom-designed AI accelerator chip.

How it works

TPUs are application-specific processors optimized for the matrix multiplications that dominate deep learning. They power Google's own models (Gemini, PaLM) and are available via Google Cloud. Programmed mostly through JAX and TensorFlow.

Related Concepts

  • Distributed Training — Training a model across multiple machines or accelerators in parallel.
  • GPU — Graphics Processing Unit — a massively parallel processor that powers most modern AI workloads.
  • Accelerator — Any specialized hardware designed to run AI workloads faster or more efficiently than a general CPU.