Edge compute brings CPU and storage closer to where data is generated. Instead of hauling every request to a centralized region, you evaluate logic in lightweight runtimes that live near the user. The result is predictable latency and less data in transit.

Early adopters ran only cache invalidations or feature flags at the edge. Today, full APIs, personalization engines, and even ML inference happen there. The trick is balancing stateful needs with the inherently stateless edge runtime model.