Data Processing Unit (DPU)
  • a specialized electronic circuit with hardware acceleration of data processing for data-centric computing
  • differentiates itself:
    • from a CPU by a lack of a program counter (replaced with a data counter)
    • from a GPU by a MIMD architecture rather than a SIMD architecture (required as each request needs to make different decisions and follow a different path through the chip)
  • can be either ASIC-based, FPGA-based or SoC-based