An A.I. Supercomputer Whirs to Life, Powered by Giant Computer Chips

Inside a cavernous room this week in a one-story building in Santa Clara, Calif., six-and-a-half-foot-tall machines whirred behind white cabinets. The machines made up a new supercomputer that had become operational just last month.

The supercomputer, which was unveiled on Thursday by Cerebras, a Silicon Valley start-up, was built with the company’s specialized chips, which are designed to power artificial intelligence products. The chips stand out for their size — like that of a dinner plate, or 56 times as large as a chip commonly used for A.I. Each Cerebras chip packs the computing…