MacResearch

We don't usually link to AppleInsider articles here, but the latest rumor is too good to leave. AI is reporting that Apple may be considering supporting CUDA directly in their developer tool chain, making it much easier to leverage the parallel processing power of Nvidia graphics cards in Mac applications. This would be useful in QuickTime, for example, for transcoding video, but it would also be very useful in scientific software.

CUDA is an Nvidia technology that allows application developers to execute C code on the graphics processing unit (GPU). Modern graphics chips contain hundreds of processor cores, making them a largely untapped resource for parallel processing. CUDA, which stands for Compute Unified Device Architecture, makes this resource accessible to developers for more than just 3D graphics — provided they can get it working that is. Support for CUDA in Apple's tool chain should make it trivial for developers to write high performance programs for Nvidia graphics cards.

AppleInsider's story is based on an interview on CNet with Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, lending credence to the rumor. Huang hints that Apple is well aware of the potential of CUDA in the CNet article.

"Apple knows a lot about CUDA," Huang said, implying the company might be ready to formally embrace Nvidia's technology to make it easier to exploit graphics chips inside Macs. Apple's implementation "won't be called CUDA, but it will be called something else," Huang said in an interview here at Nvidia's headquarters on Wednesday.

Let the name guessing begin!