GPUs are dedicated parallel processors that are optimized for accelerating graphical computations. They have many execution units and faster memory interfaces than CPUs in order to process large amounts of graphical data efficiently. The GPU pipeline receives geometry from the CPU as input and provides pictures as output, going through stages like vertex processing, triangle setup, pixel processing, and output merging. GPUs are highly programmable and widely used for applications like gaming, shading, and global illumination. Future advancements may include more processing cores, tighter integration with CPUs, and fully programmable hardware.