AI engineering glossary · Computing foundations
What is TPU (tensor processing unit)?
Tensor processing unit (also called TPU): A custom chip designed by Google specifically to accelerate the matrix arithmetic in neural networks. It trades flexibility for efficiency on that one workload and is offered through Google Cloud for training and inference.
Tensor processing unit: an example
A team can rent a TPU on Google Cloud to train a large model instead of buying GPUs.
Related terms
More Computing foundations terms
- Text file
- Thread
- Three-way handshake
- Throughput
- Time zone
- Transistor
- Transport Layer Security
- Two's complement
Where you learn it
Tensor 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.