Glossary
AIU (Artificial Intelligence Unit)
IBM Research's family of experimental AI accelerator chips, the upstream research lineage feeding IBM's production AI silicon designs.
AIU chips are not commercial products in their own right; they represent IBM Research's proving ground for AI acceleration ideas that later appear in shipping chips such as Telum II and the Spyre Accelerator.
Related Terms
Telum II
IBM's second-generation, AI-integrated mainframe processor, powering the z17 system, with an on-chip AI accelerator delivering 24 TOPS.
Spyre Accelerator
IBM's PCIe-form-factor AI accelerator card for on-premises generative and traditional AI inference, with confirmed Power11 compatibility from December 2025.