Nvidia developed the CUDA parallel-computing platform used widely in modern artificial-intelligence systems.
Nvidia introduced CUDA in 2006 as a way for developers to use the parallel-processing capabilities of its graphics processing units, or GPUs, for general-purpose computing. Although GPUs were originally associated mainly with computer graphics, their ability to perform many calculations simultaneously made them valuable for scientific computing and machine learning.
The CUDA software ecosystem became a major competitive advantage for Nvidia. Researchers and companies could use libraries, development tools, and compatible hardware without building an entire computing stack from scratch. Demand for AI training and inference later made Nvidia one of the world’s most valuable companies by market capitalization.
CUDA is Nvidia’s platform, not a separate chip manufacturer. AMD and Intel also produce computing accelerators, but they are associated with different software ecosystems.