the-rise-of-ai-is-forcing-google-and-microsoft-to-become-chipmakers

While most attention to the AI boom is understandably focused on the latest exploits of algorithms beating humans at poker or piloting juggernauts, there's a less obvious scramble going on to build a new breed of computer chip needed to power our AI future. At a computer vision conference in Hawaii, Harry Shum, who leads Microsoft's research efforts, showed off a new chip created for the HoloLens augmented reality googles. The chip, which Shum demonstrated tracking hand movements, includes a module custom-designed to efficiently run the deep learning software behind recent strides in speech and image recognition. The TPU, for tensor processing unit, was created to make deep learning more efficient inside the company's cloud.