AI engineering glossary · Computing foundations
What is GPU (graphics processing unit)?
Graphics processing unit (also called GPU): A processor with thousands of small cores built to run the same operation on huge amounts of data in parallel. Originally for rendering images, it is now the standard hardware for training and running neural networks because those workloads are mostly large matrix multiplications.
Graphics processing unit: an example
Multiplying two 4096 by 4096 matrices takes far less time on a GPU than on a CPU because thousands of multiplications run at once.
Related terms
More Computing foundations terms
- Half-precision floating point
- Hard disk drive
- Hard link
- Hash function
- Heap
- Hexadecimal
- Hyper-threading
- Hypervisor
Where you learn it
Graphics processing unit is part of the AI Engineering Program, which teaches it with notes, a hands-on lab and an exam. The first lesson is free.