What is Graphics Processing Units (GPU)?

Why in news ? India and the United States have announced that they will “significantly increase trade in technology products, including Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and other goods used in data centers.

About Graphics Processing Units (GPU):

• A GPU is an electronic circuit boardthat can quickly perform many mathematical calculations. 
• Like a central processing unit (CPU), a GPU is also a chip component in computing devices.
• The technology was originally designed to speed up 3-D graphics rendering.

• Traditional GPUs come in two main flavours.
  • First, there are standalone chips,which often come in add-on cards for large desktop computers.
  • Second are GPUs combined with a CPUin the same chip package, which are often found in laptops and game consoles such as the PlayStation 5.
• In both cases, the CPU controls what the GPU does.
• Working of GPU
  • GPUs work by using parallel processing,where multiple processors handle separate parts of a single task.
  • A GPU will also have its own RAM to storethe data it is processing. This RAM is designed specifically to hold the large amounts of information coming into the GPU for highly intensive graphics use cases.
• Applications:It is used in areas including high-performance computing, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), weather forecasting, and crypto currency mining.