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Google TPU 8t: The Complete Guide

The first time Google has ever shipped a TPU generation as two different chips. This is the one built to train. Simple to expert, every number links to its source.

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Google TPU 8t 10 sections · 2 levels 4 linked sources Checked September 2026
How to read this page. Each section starts Simple, then goes to a Deep dive: stop wherever you have what you need. The small numbers are sources: click one to open the original document. Where the maker has not published a figure -- a price, a die size, a factory address -- this page says so rather than estimate it.

1.At a glance

SimpleStart here

TPU 8t is the training half of Google’s eighth TPU generation, announced 22 April 2026 at Google Cloud Next 1. Every generation from TPU v1 through Ironwood shipped as one general-purpose chip; TPU 8t and its inference sibling, TPU 8i, are the first to split that design in two.

Deep diveThe technical detail

Designed in partnership with Google DeepMind 1. As of this check, Google’s own product page still lists both TPU 8t and its sibling TPU 8i as “Coming Soon” 2.

2.Launch and history

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Google split its eighth generation because training and inference have started pulling in different directions: training needs raw, brute-force compute, while serving AI agents at scale needs memory bandwidth and low latency above all else — one chip design was starting to compromise on both.

Deep diveThe technical detail

Google’s own stated rationale: rising inference demand “as frontier AI models are deployed in production and at scale,” where “interactions between agents at scale magnify even small inefficiencies” 1. TPU 8t is the side of that split built for the first half of the problem: training the models in the first place.

3.What’s inside it

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216GB of HBM memory and 128MB of on-chip fast memory per chip, built for raw training throughput at superpod scale 3.

Deep diveThe technical detail

Google’s technical deep-dive gives per-chip figures separately from the pod-level marketing numbers: 216 GB of HBM capacity, 6,528 GB/s of HBM bandwidth, 128 MB of on-chip SRAM (“Vmem”), and 12.6 petaflops of peak FP4 compute per chip 3. Google has not published a process node or foundry for TPU 8t in any official source found; this page does not guess one.

4.Full spec table

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A full TPU 8t superpod scales to 9,600 chips, delivering 121 exaflops of compute and 2 petabytes of shared memory 1.

Deep diveThe technical detail
SpecGoogle TPU 8t
Peak compute (fp4, per chip)12.6 PFLOPs
Memory (per chip)216 GB HBM, 6,528 GB/s bandwidth
On-chip memory (per chip)128 MB SRAM (“Vmem”)
Superpod scaleUp to 9,600 chips
Superpod compute121 exaflops
Superpod memory2 petabytes shared HBM
Reliability>97% “goodput” (Google’s own uptime/efficiency metric)

Per-chip figures per Google’s technical deep-dive 3; pod-level figures per Google’s launch blog 1. These are measured at different levels (single chip vs. full superpod) and should not be read as directly comparable to each other. Google’s product page separately states TPU 8t delivers roughly 3 times the compute per pod of the previous generation 2.

5.Where it’s made

SimpleStart here

Google has not disclosed who manufactures TPU 8t or on what process node. No official source confirms this yet.

Deep diveThe technical detail

Broadcom’s April 2026 SEC filing describes a long-term agreement to develop and supply custom TPUs for Google’s “future generations,” running through up to 2031, without naming TPU 8t specifically or disclosing a process node 4. Press reports mentioning MediaTek in connection with this generation are not corroborated by any official Google or Broadcom statement this page could confirm, and are not repeated here as fact.

6.Which systems use it

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Google names one early customer voice in its launch announcement, Citadel Securities, though the surrounding context does not make clear whether that quote applies to TPU 8t specifically or to the eighth generation broadly 1.

Deep diveThe technical detail

As of this check, TPU 8t remains listed as “Coming Soon” on Google Cloud’s own product page, with no region or zone availability published 2.

7.Official pricing

SimpleStart here

No price has been published. TPU 8t remains listed as “Coming Soon” on Google Cloud’s own product page 2.

Deep diveThe technical detail

Google Cloud’s pricing page, checked September 2026, lists no TPU 8t entry at all. This page reports that plainly rather than estimating a rate from earlier generations.

8.Real-world performance

SimpleStart here

Google claims roughly 3 times the compute per pod versus the previous generation 2 — a company-stated comparison; no independent benchmark has been published for TPU 8t as of this check.

Deep diveThe technical detail

As a “Coming Soon” product with no general-availability date yet confirmed beyond “later this year” (2026) 1, no MLPerf or other third-party benchmark submission for TPU 8t exists as of this check. This page reports Google’s own comparative claim rather than inventing one.

9.What came before, what came next

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Came before: Ironwood (TPU7x). Comes after: not yet named — Google’s own product page lists TPU 8t and TPU 8i as its newest generation, with no ninth generation announced 2.

Deep diveThe technical detail

TPU 8t succeeds Ironwood as the training-focused half of Google’s eighth generation, with TPU 8i as its inference-focused sibling, covered on its own page. As of this check, Google has not announced anything beyond the eighth generation.

10.Hidden in plain sight

SimpleStart here

For the first time in eight generations, Google looked at its own single-chip-for-everything design and decided it no longer worked.

Deep diveThe technical detail

Every prior TPU generation, from v1 through Ironwood, shipped as one chip design meant to handle whatever workload a customer threw at it. TPU 8t’s existence — a chip explicitly optimized for training alone, with a separate inference-only sibling shipping the same day — is itself the most direct evidence Google has given that training and inference workloads have diverged enough that one chip design can no longer serve both well 1.

11.Sources

4 sources, checked September 2026. Where NVIDIA or another maker has not published a figure, this page says so rather than estimate it.

  1. Google Blog: Our Eighth Generation TPUs: Two Chips for the Agentic EraOfficial
  2. Google Cloud: Cloud TPU Product PageOfficial
  3. Google Cloud Blog: TPU 8t and TPU 8i Technical Deep DiveOfficial
  4. Broadcom: Form 8-K, Long-Term TPU Agreement with Google (6 Apr 2026)Filing