As Evan Burness of Microsoft Azure points out, CPUs remain the “it-just-works” technology. Looking ahead, the relationship between CPUs, GPUs, and specialized processors like NPUs will define the future of HPC. This content was produced by Insights, the custom content arm of MIT Technology Review. It was not written by MIT Technology Review’s editorial staff. AI tools that may have been used were limited to secondary production processes that passed thorough human review.