A GPU, or Graphics Processing Unit, is a specialized electronic circuit designed to accelerate the processing of images and videos for display. Unlike a CPU, which handles general-purpose tasks, a GPU is optimized for parallel processing, making it highly efficient at handling complex graphical computations and large volumes of data simultaneously. Originally developed for rendering graphics in video games, GPUs are now widely used in fields such as artificial intelligence, scientific computing, and data analysis due to their ability to perform many calculations at once.