In 2015 Google introduced the Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) to customers. Without TPUs, offering many of our services such as real-time voice search, photo object recognition, and interactive language translation simply would not be possible.
In 2018 Google launched Video Processing Units (VPUs) to enable video distribution to a range of formats and client requirements, supporting the rapid demand for real-time video communication scalably and effectively.
Now, instead of integrating components on a motherboard where they are separated by inches of wires, Google is turning to “Systems on Chip” (SoC) designs where multiple functions sit on the same chip, or on multiple chips inside one package. In other words, the SoC is the new motherboard.
An article by Amin Vahdat, Google Fellow and Vice President of Systems Infrastructure.
I’m so curious to see what’s next!