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A long ledger on a bright table stretching across roughly a decade of dated rows, an investment column filled in throughout while a profit column stays empty, a pen caught finally about to mark the first filled entry near the ledger's far end

"We Didn't Make Money for 10 Years, and We Never Gave Up on It" — Nvidia's CUDA Bet, Explained

Nvidia showed off CUDA in 2006. It cost billions, served a market that didn't yet exist, and didn't turn a profit for roughly a decade. This is the story of the software decision that quietly became AI hardware's entire foundation.

By Brecht Corbeel · August 10, 2026 · 5 min read

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