GoKawiilGreat question. A TPU is a chip Google created to deal with cloud-based AI and machine learning tasks in the company's data centers. Known as an AI accelerator, a TPU is optimized to perform millions of mathematical calculations on the fly in AI models, something that NPUs and GPUs do as well.
We've been talking a lot about AI and ML, which for many of us will call into play an NPU. As it should, since we've been beaten over the head with them ad nauseum thanks to Apple, the various PC and smartphone makers and the chip manufacturers. If you're unfamiliar, NPUs are the chips you'll find in all your modern smartphones, Macs and PCs. They do all the heavy lifting for your generative and agentic AI tasks, whether it's erasing an ex from a photo or using ChatGPT to build out a three-day travel itinerary. For the Pixel 11 phones, the TPU replaces the NPU, with Google claiming "up to 3.5 times faster AI processing while using up to 3.5 times less energy."
GPUs are familiar to many of us, especially if you're a gamer or work with 3D models. Before AI, we wanted a powerful GPU to run graphically demanding games like Crysis 3 at the highest settings with blistering frame rates and buttery smooth rendering. Post-AI, GPUs still do that as well as handle AI training and crypto mining, hence why the best ones cost an arm, a leg and a firstborn. A jack-of-all-trades, a GPU can do many things well depending on how powerful it is.