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TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)
TCO is the complete cost of owning and operating an asset over its lifetime.
Definition
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is a financial estimate that helps consumers and enterprises determine the direct and indirect costs of a product or system. For GPU cloud vs on-premises: (1) On-premises TCO = hardware ($30K/GPU) + power + cooling + datacenter + staff + maintenance, (2) Cloud TCO = hourly rate × hours used. For AI workloads with <50% utilization, cloud is typically cheaper. For >70% utilization, on-premises may be cheaper. Harch Corp provides TCO calculators to help customers compare GPU cloud vs on-premises, with transparent pricing.
Related Keywords
tcototal cost of ownershipcloud costgpu costcost optimization
Related Terms
GPU Cloud
GPU cloud is a cloud computing service that provides access to graphics processing units (GPUs) on-demand for AI, ML, and HPC workloads.
CAPEX
CAPEX is capital expenditure — money spent on long-term assets like hardware and buildings.
OPEX
OPEX is operating expenditure — ongoing costs for running a business, like cloud subscriptions.