TPUs vs. GPUs and why Google is positioned to win AI race in the long term

Post by agumonkey » Sat, Nov 29, 2025, 1:56 AM UTC

thelastgallon wrote: post #62

m4r1k wrote: post #41

Google's real moat isn't the TPU silicon itself—it's not about cooling, individual performance, or hyper-specialization—but rather the massive parallel scale enabled by their OCS interconnects. To quote The Next Platform: "An Ironwood cluster linked with Google’s absolutely unique optical circuit switch interconnect can bring to bear 9,216 Ironwood TPUs with a combined 1.77 PB of HBM memory... This makes a rackscale…

Also, Google owns the entire vertical stack, which is what most people need. It can provide an entire spectrum of AI services far cheaper, at scale (and still profitable) via its cloud. Not every company needs to buy the hardware and build models, etc., etc.; what most companies need is an app store of AI offerings they can leverage. Google can offer this with a healthy profit margin, while others will eventually run…

Post by pezezin » Sat, Nov 29, 2025, 8:10 AM UTC

musicale wrote: post #308

torginus wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like this is more like the console/PC debate in the 90s. Consoles like the SNES had dedicated fixed function graphics hardware with weaker general specs, but with the special HW they could perform as well as a much more expensive PC - but as devs made more and more varied and clever games, that fixed function hardware couldn't support it and the PC became the superior choice.

I guess that's why Nintendo stopped making game consoles and Sony's PlayStation never went anywhere.

Post by saagarjha » Sat, Nov 29, 2025, 12:38 PM UTC

overfeed wrote: post #312

saagarjha wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nvidia?

Sam Altman attempted to raise $5Tn for an AI-chip startup

Post by rootnod3 » Sat, Nov 29, 2025, 4:25 PM UTC

tarsinge wrote: post #306

zmmmmm wrote: post #215

I always enjoy being wrong and I was very wrong in my predictions about Google : I thought they should theoretically win, but I was also very confident they couldn't possibly turn their execution ship around to actually pull together a coherent competitor to OpenAI. But they do seem to have done that and it's very impressive. If they do continue to execute, I can't see anybody stopping them dominating and I would be…

I don’t know if Google will win but the message they sent is that Nvidia will not: if Google can release the best model without using their own chips instead of GPUs, and save money in the process, then others (Microsoft, Amazon, etc.) will do it too sooner or later.

Post by vagab0nd » Sat, Nov 29, 2025, 10:29 PM UTC