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

While compression reduces memory traffic and GPU-hours required per workload, lower costs per token could spur greater usage, potentially offsetting some of the demand impact. —Yun Li, CNBC, 27 Mar. 2026

Dell's move away from discrete GPU hardware also allows the 5S models to maintain that ultra-mobile form factor while still meeting baseline workstation performance requirements. —Brian Westover, PC Magazine, 25 Mar. 2026

Liaw wrote back trying to assuage his concerns and then continued making inquiries about the GPU orders, the indictment states. —Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 22 Mar. 2026

Once on the chip, data musters in 64 megabytes of cache memory—somewhat more than an Nvidia Hopper-generation GPU. —IEEE Spectrum, 9 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

graphics processing unit

First Known Use

1973, in the meaning defined above