NVIDIA GPU Hackathon
NVIDIA
Description
NVIDIA GPU Hackathons are intensive, hands-on events where developers work with NVIDIA engineers to accelerate their applications using GPUs. These are not traditional prize hackathons — instead, they provide direct technical assistance to port and optimize your code for NVIDIA GPUs. Held globally throughout the year, these hackathons help teams achieve 10-100x speedups on their applications.
Note: Unlike prize-based hackathons, NVIDIA GPU Hackathons focus on technical enablement. You'll work alongside NVIDIA experts to optimize your code, typically over 4 days. The "prize" is working, accelerated code and the knowledge to continue optimizing.
For ZHC builders training AI models or processing large datasets, GPU optimization can reduce costs and enable real-time inference. These hackathons are particularly valuable for teams with existing codebases that need GPU acceleration.
Eligibility
Event Structure
- Duration: 4 days (typically Tue-Fri)
- Format: In-person or virtual
- Frequency: Multiple events per year globally
- Team size: 2-6 developers per team
- Cost: Free to participate
Application Requirements
- Working application or codebase to accelerate
- Development team available for full 4 days
- Clear understanding of current performance bottlenecks
- Willingness to port code to CUDA/GPU
Suitable Applications
- Machine learning and AI training/inference
- Scientific computing and simulations
- Data analytics and processing
- Image/video processing
- Financial modeling
- Any compute-intensive workload
ZHC-Specific Fit
✅ Excellent for:
- Teams with existing code to optimize
- AI/ML applications needing speedup
- Cost reduction through GPU efficiency
- Learning GPU programming from NVIDIA experts
- Real-time inference requirements
❌ Poor fit if:
- Looking for prize money (no cash prizes)
- No existing codebase to optimize
- Cannot commit to 4-day intensive
- Prefer competition-style events
Application Process
Hackathon Timeline
| Phase | Timeline | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Application | 4-8 weeks before | Submit project proposal |
| Selection | 2-4 weeks before | NVIDIA reviews and accepts teams |
| Preparation | 1-2 weeks before | Code review, environment setup |
| Day 1 | Tuesday | Kickoff, code assessment, planning |
| Days 2-3 | Wed-Thu | Intensive coding with NVIDIA mentors |
| Day 4 | Friday | Final optimization, presentations |
What You Get
- Direct mentorship from NVIDIA engineers
- Access to latest GPU hardware
- CUDA and optimization training
- Working accelerated code by end of event
- Post-event support for continued optimization
- NVIDIA developer community access
- No cost participation
Application Components
- Project description and current performance
- Target application and use case
- Team member backgrounds
- Current codebase and tech stack
- Performance goals for hackathon