The NYCU Software Development Club (SDC), established in August 2024, is dedicated to bringing together talented individuals from the merged National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, accelerating advancements in the field of information technology, and fostering a cycle where newcomers grow into future leaders.

Though newly founded, SDC has already begun actively planning and participating in various initiatives. For instance, in November 2024, the club’s HPC Team participated in the NCHC Open Hackathon 2024, co-organized by the National Center for High-performance Computing (NCHC) and NVIDIA. Conducted online through platforms like MS Teams, Slack, and email, the hackathon saw the SDC team focus on accelerating inference computations of the NVIDIA Vision Language Model (NVLM) decoder. The main goals were to improve inference speed, reduce latency, enhance performance and resource efficiency, and explore optimized algorithms to lower computational costs. After extensive experimentation and refinement, the team successfully achieved a 3.3x inference speed-up, developed a scalable GPU parallel pipeline, and gained hands-on experience with tools like Nsight Profiling and various acceleration techniques—solidifying their expertise in high-performance computing.

Beyond competitions, SDC actively seeks collaboration opportunities with industry. In the first semester of the 2024–25 academic year, SDC partnered with Kronos Research to launch the "Kronos Research x NYCU SDC Quantitative Training Program," aimed at nurturing talents in quantitative trading. The program consisted of ten 2-hour lectures delivered by Kronos Research professionals, offering both expert knowledge and the opportunity to secure high-paying internships worth TWD 150,000/month. The program functioned as a long-term interview process, where students were evaluated based on their participation and engagement. Ultimately, 39 students were selected, with 8 receiving interview invitations and 2 successfully landing internship positions. This collaboration not only enhanced students’ professional skills but also strengthened Kronos Research’s presence on both the NYCU and NTHU campuses—achieving a true win-win for academia and industry.

Looking ahead, SDC plans to launch an in-depth collaboration with global semiconductor leader AMD in the second semester of 2024–25. The partnership will include a GPU programming training program designed to equip students with skills in high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), and GPU parallel processing. Supported by AMD’s ROCm hardware and technical resources, the program will cover GPU parallel computing, HIP programming, and performance optimization—culminating in hands-on projects to validate their technical learning. This partnership will provide members with direct exposure to cutting-edge industry technologies and real-world applications, helping bridge the gap between academia and industry and laying a strong foundation for future careers.

Since its founding, the NYCU Software Development Club has rapidly grown into one of the university’s most influential tech communities. Moving forward, SDC will continue to seek more partnerships with international tech companies to offer members richer learning opportunities and stronger industry connections—empowering them to become future leaders in Taiwan’s high-tech sector.