An AI accelerator is a specialized hardware component, often a computer chip, designed to efficiently process artificial intelligence (AI) tasks. These chips are optimized for operations common in AI workloads, such as training and running neural networks, which require handling large amounts of data and complex mathematical calculations. By offloading these tasks from general-purpose CPUs, AI accelerators significantly speed up AI applications like image recognition, natural language processing, and autonomous driving. Examples include graphics processing units (GPUs), tensor processing units (TPUs), and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) tailored for AI.