For years, much of the digital world depended on distant cloud servers. Increasingly, computing power is moving closer to where data is actually created.
This approach, known as edge computing, allows devices to process information locally instead of constantly sending it to centralised data centres.
The advantage is speed. Technologies such as autonomous vehicles, smart factories and connected infrastructure often require real-time responses that cannot tolerate delays.
Edge systems can also reduce bandwidth usage and improve reliability when internet connections are unstable.
Companies including NVIDIA and Intel are investing heavily in hardware designed for edge processing.
However, decentralising computing creates new challenges around cybersecurity, maintenance and data management.
Experts say the future internet may rely not only on massive cloud infrastructure, but on distributed networks embedded throughout daily life.
