GPU
Working knowledgeAI Economics and Infrastructure
Also called: Graphics Processing Unit
A GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is a specialised computer chip designed for rendering graphics that turned out to be extremely efficient at the parallel calculations AI models need, both for training them and for running them. Nvidia's dominance in AI-capable GPUs has made chip supply, pricing and export controls a central business and geopolitical issue.
In practice
Nvidia's quarterly earnings have become one of the most closely watched indicators of AI industry health, purely on the strength of GPU demand. For a buyer, GPU supply is the constraint that sets what an AI workload costs and how quickly it can be scaled, whether you rent the capacity or own it.