Google says its AI behemoth is 24x faster than the world's best supercomputer - but this analyst, armed with a spreadsheet, disagrees

Google claims its new Ironwood TPU v7p pod is 24 times faster than the El Capitan supercomputer, but an analyst calls this comparison "perfectly silly." The claim compares different types of performance metrics for systems with distinct purposes.

In reality, El Capitan likely has higher performance at comparable precision levels and better cost efficiency. The comparison highlights differences between AI and traditional supercomputing systems in terms of capabilities and metrics.