Artificial Intelligence Edge Device Shipments to Reach 2.6 Billion Units Annually by 2025

Artificial intelligence (AI) processing today is mostly done in a cloud-based data center. The majority of AI processing is dominated by training of deep learning models, which requires heavy compute capacity. In the last 6 years, the industry has experienced a 300,000X growth in compute requirements, with graphics processing units (GPUs) providing most of that horsepower. According to a new report from Tractica, however, as the diversity of AI applications grows, an increasing amount of AI processing will be handled within edge devices rather than in a centralized, cloud-based environment. Tractica forecasts that AI edge device shipments will increase from 161.4 million units in 2018 to 2.6 billion units worldwide annually by 2025.