Google Unveils Ironwood – 24x More Powerful than the World’s Fasted Supercomputer

At the Google Cloud Next 2025 conference in Las Vegas, Google unveiled Ironwood, its seventh-generation Tensor Processing Unit (TPU), marking a significant advancement in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

Unprecedented Performance

Ironwood delivers a remarkable 42.5 exaflops of computing power when scaled to 9,216 chips per pod, making it 24 times more powerful than El Capitan, currently the world's fastest supercomputer. Each chip boasts 192GB of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and achieves a memory bandwidth of 7.2 terabits per second, representing a 4.5x improvement over its predecessor, Trillium.

Optimized for AI Inference

Unlike earlier TPUs designed for both training and inference, Ironwood is specifically engineered to enhance inference computing—the process of generating rapid responses in AI applications like chatbots. This focus addresses the growing demand for efficient deployment of complex AI models. ​

Energy Efficiency

In addition to its performance capabilities, Ironwood is designed with energy efficiency in mind. It delivers double the performance per watt compared to the previous Trillium chip, aligning with the industry's emphasis on sustainable AI infrastructure. ​ 

Google's introduction of Ironwood underscores its commitment to advancing AI technology and providing powerful, efficient tools for both internal use and cloud customers.