GPUs Fuel AI Processing Explosion

If you want to know why so many graphics processing units are being sold these days, and why sales are expected to increase, AI applications and use cases are a big part of the explanation. 

According to data published by the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, computing intensity caused by use of artificial intelligence model training and inference operations will continue to grow at high rates, with computing cycle volume increasing by an order of magnitude over the next decade. 

In large part, those increases will be caused by AI adoption in most industries. 

Year	Computing cycle volume (exaflops)
2023	1.7
2024	2.4
2025	3.3
2026	4.6
2027	6.4
2028	8.9
2029	12.3
2030	16.7
2031	22.6
2032	30.4
2033	40.7
2034	54.3
2035	72.4
2036	96.6
2037	128.7
2038	171.2
2039	228.1
2040	304.2

Source: Allen Institute

Year	Projected increase in computing cycle volume due to AI training and inference operations (%)
2023	100%
2024	145%
2025	200%
2026	260%
2027	330%
2028	410%
2029	500%
2030	600%
2031	710%
2032	830%
2033	960%
2034	1100%
2035	1250%
2036	1410%
2037	1580%
2038	1760%
2039	1950%
2040	2150%

Source: Allen Institute