Google TPU 8tx to Use AMD EPYC Host Processors

Google Cloud said on November 9 that its TPU 8tx system will use fifth-generation AMD EPYC processors as host CPUs alongside Google’s TPU accelerators. The arrangement puts AMD processors in an AI system built around Google’s own accelerator technology, but the companies did not disclose processor volumes or the financial value of the deal.

Google describes TPU 8tx as designed mainly for confidential inference, with smaller-scale training also supported. The system uses the accelerator silicon in Google’s TPU 8t, according to the company. Google said requests from highly regulated customers helped shape the design and identified government agencies and businesses in regulated sectors as potential users.

In the configuration, EPYC processors prepare data, organize workloads and manage communication with the TPUs. Google’s accelerators perform the specialized AI computation. AMD says its Secure Encrypted Virtualization technology works with Google’s TPU security architecture to protect information as it is processed and moves between host processors and accelerators. The companies describe these protections as part of the system’s confidential-computing design; the announcements...