GPU

abbreviation or noun

ˌjē-(ˌ)pē-ˈyü 

variants or less commonly gpu

plural GPUs also gpus

: a specialized CPU designed to efficiently perform calculations for generating computer graphics

A GPU can deliver hundreds of billions of operations per second—some GPUs more than a teraflop, or a trillion operations per second—while requiring only slightly more electrical power and cooling than a CPU.

—Andrea Di Blas et al.

Examples of GPU in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Although margins decreased slightly, a notable rise in revenue and a growing P/E multiple signify the market’s trust in its GPU leadership and advancements in the automotive sector. —Trefis Team, Forbes.com, 26 Jan. 2026

Comparing these two chips, the X9 is only 4 percent faster in GPU performance, at least as measured in the 3DMark Steel Nomad Light benchmark. —Luke Larsen, Wired News, 26 Jan. 2026

Reliable interconnect solutions - link flaps have been one of the biggest issues impacting network reliability and ensuring that the network and the interconnects are highly reliable to prevent any disruption to expensive GPU resource utilization. —CBS News, 20 Jan. 2026

The company highlighted that its Colossus 1 and Colossus 2 systems now exceed one million H100 GPU equivalents, alongside recent product launches such as Grok 4, Grok Voice, and Grok Imagine. —Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 19 Jan. 2026

Word History

Etymology

graphics processing unit

First Known Use

1973, in the meaning defined above