Just to put some numbers behind this: 35 CPU years = 35 * 365 = 12,775 CPU days Let's assume that your standard Google machine has 2 8-core processors, that i

Just to put some numbers behind this: 35 CPU years = 35 * 365 = 12,775 CPU days Let's assume that your standard Google machine has 2 8-core processors, that is 16 cores per machine 12,775 / 16 = 798 machines 800 machines is a lot for your average person, but for a company like Google it is a very small drop in the bucket. And that is assuming you need to do all of the calculations in one day. If you are willing to do the calculations over a month, you only need 26 machines. Even if "CPU year" applies to one 8-core processor, that still means it is just 26 * 8 = 416 machines, which is a very small number for Google. And remember, the machines are still doing other things, this is just using idle CPU (generally a plentiful resource for your standard internet giant workload).