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NVIDIA A100 vs Intel Gaudi 2: Spec Comparison & Buyer's Guide

In AI infrastructure selection, NVIDIA A100 and Intel Gaudi 2 are two accelerators frequently compared. This article contrasts them item by item — architecture, compute, memory, power, and release cadence — to help you quickly judge which fits training or inference workloads.

Spec Comparison Table​

VendorNVIDIA A100Intel Gaudi 2
VendorNVIDIAIntel
ArchitectureAmpere GA100Gaudi 2
ProcessTSMC 7nmTSMC 7nm
Release Date2020 6 GTC2022-05-10
FP8 Compute—865 TFLOPS
FP16 Compute——
FP32 Compute19.5 TFLOPSN/A
INT8 Compute—865 TOPS
Memory Type——
Memory Capacity80 GB HBM2e96 GB HBM2e
Memory Bandwidth1,935 GB/s2.46 TB/s
TDP Power300 W / 400 W600 W

Key Differences​

  • Power: NVIDIA A100 has a TDP of 300 W / 400 W, lower than Intel Gaudi 2's 600 W, friendlier to datacenter PUE and cooling.
  • Memory capacity: Intel Gaudi 2 packs 96 GB HBM2e, more than NVIDIA A100's 80 GB HBM2e, more comfortable for single-card hosting of very large models.

Selection Advice​

  • When chasing extreme single-card compute and a mature toolchain, prioritize NVIDIA A100; if budget, power wall, or local support are hard constraints, Intel Gaudi 2 often fits better. Use this site's AI Compute Card Comparison Tool to validate multiple chips side-by-side before deciding.

FAQ​

What are the main differences between NVIDIA A100 and Intel Gaudi 2?​

The core difference is architecture and compute density: NVIDIA A100 uses Ampere GA100, FP8 ~No public FP8 data, memory 80 GB HBM2e; Intel Gaudi 2 uses Gaudi 2, FP8 ~865 TFLOPS, memory 96 GB HBM2e. See the comparison table above.

What is the TDP (power) of NVIDIA A100?​

NVIDIA A100 has a TDP of 300 W / 400 W; actual whole-system power also includes board, fans, and PUE.

Which is better for large-model training / inference?​

Training values memory capacity, bandwidth, and multi-card interconnect; inference values single-card throughput and power efficiency. Combine the "Key Differences" and "Selection Advice" above with your batch size, model size, and SLA.

How much do NVIDIA A100 and Intel Gaudi 2 differ in memory capacity?​

NVIDIA A100 is 80 GB HBM2e, Intel Gaudi 2 is 96 GB HBM2e; the gap directly affects loadable model size and context length.