Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is stepping up its competition with Nvidia in the artificial intelligence (AI) chip market by developing custom hardware solutions.
Google has unveiled a new lineup of custom chips designed to bolster its position in the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence (AI) market. The tech giant introduced the Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) and an Arm-based central processing unit (CPU) named Axion, showcasing its commitment to innovate in AI hardware.
While the TPUs offer a competitive alternative to Nvidia’s AI chips, they are exclusively accessible through Google Cloud and unavailable for direct purchase. This strategy allows Google to control its proprietary technology while providing customers cutting-edge AI capabilities through its cloud services.
Google Reveals New Axion CPU, Intel Announces New AI Chip
Google’s Axion CPU promises superior performance compared to x86 chips and general-purpose Arm chips in the cloud. The company has engineered Axion to facilitate easy migration of existing workloads to the Arm architecture, enabling seamless adoption without the need for extensive app rewrites or architectural changes.
The introduction of custom chips for data centers aligns with similar efforts by Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), signaling a differentiation trend in cloud computing services. While Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) collaborated with Google on previous TPU generations, the company did not disclose specifics about partnerships for Axion or the new TPU version.
The new TPU, dubbed v5p, can run in configurations of up to 8,960 chips, doubling the performance of its predecessor. It also features liquid cooling for optimal operation. Google claims that Axion outperforms general-purpose Arm chips by 30% and current-generation x86 chips by 50%.
Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) also announced a new artificial intelligence chip called “Gaudi 3” which claims to run AI models one-and-a-half times faster than Nvidia’s flagship H100 GPUs.
Nvidia Shares Tumble Post Google’s AI Chip Announcement
Google is stepping up its competition with Nvidia in the artificial intelligence (AI) chip market by developing custom hardware solutions.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), saw its stock price rise by $0.91 (+0.58%) to $157.05, demonstrating a positive trend amidst the news of its AI chip advancements. In contrast, Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), the major player in the AI chip market, experienced a significant drop of $33.04 (-3.79%) to $838.29 today.
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Neither the author, Tim Fries, nor this website, The Tokenist, provide financial advice. Please consult our website policy prior to making financial decisions.
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