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Definition: Tensor Processing Unit


A custom-built chip for machine learning from Google. Introduced in 2016, the Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) runs software from Google's TensorFlow AI library. TPU circuits are designed to process huge volumes of input, output and low-precision math very quickly for neural network processing.

TPU Versions and Edge
TPUv1 through TPUv4 are the first four versions of the chip from 2016 to 2021. In 2018, a lighter-weight Edge v1 chip designed for AI processing was used in Google's Pixel 4 smartphone (see Tensor chip). See Tensor core, TensorFlow, PaLM and neural network.