A Survey to Predict the Trend of AI-able Server Evolution in the Cloud

About a decade ago, people concerned about the risks of adopting cloud computing. It was an unproven new thing that raised more questions than it answered. Nowadays, we hear more about the risks of not adopting the cloud. Three of the leading cloud players, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, and other participants have developed complex cloud platforms that are driving the cloud agenda and launching innovative new products to meet the needs of modern businesses. When looking at processors, core components of the cloud, there is a trend for hyperscale data centers is to move beyond the CPUs and turn to dedicated chips, such as graphics processing units, field programmable gating arrays, and application specific integrated circuits. We think it is an artificial intelligence (AI) realization process and provide a detailed survey about hardware server design in this process. After discussing and summarizing various disclosed techniques and platforms, we conceived a hybrid hardware structure for efficient AI applications.