NVIDIA commits 3x more code across 30,000 developers with Cursor
NVIDIA has become synonymous with AI and the most valuable enterprise in the world. Last year, the organization set a new engineering mandate: leverage Cursor to embed AI across every phase of the software development lifecycle (SDLC) and eliminate manual bottlenecks across code generation, testing, reviews, and debugging.
Today, over 30,000 developers use Cursor daily, driving an over three-fold increase in committed code. Beyond code generation, NVIDIA customized Cursor for its engineering workflows, extending the impact of AI models from individual productivity enhancements to the automation of core production workflows across the SDLC.
Cursor delivers better performance on large codebases
Over its 30 year history, NVIDIA has amassed massive codebases with varied tech stacks. These codebases are closely intertwined with many shared dependencies. Changes in one codebase often have downstream effects on others, making it difficult for even the best engineering teams to navigate the nuances of this complex system.
Each of NVIDIA's product lines has a complex codebase that is evolving quickly. It's very hard for developers to stay on top of these changes and understand the entirety of the codebase. This is where Cursor really shines.
NVIDIA saw fast, accurate results with Cursor in its environment. This difference is due to Cursor's ability to map out and semantically reason over large codebases. Fabian Theuring, a senior software architect, explained that Cursor's agent is noticeably smarter, faster, and more efficient because it retrieves only the most relevant context.
Cursor's speed and accuracy across NVIDIA's development environment made an immediate impact on engineering velocity.
Before Cursor, NVIDIA had other AI coding tools, both internally built and other external vendors. But after adopting Cursor is when we really started seeing significant increases in development velocity.
From code generation to end-to-end automation of the SDLC
As NVIDIA's developers began shipping code faster with AI, bottlenecks shifted to other phases of the SDLC: code review, testing, and debugging. NVIDIA's engineering leadership set ambitious goals to extend Cursor into these workflows as well. "My mission here is to embed AI in every step of the SDLC," says Luo.
Cursor is used in pretty much all product areas and in all aspects of software development. Teams are using Cursor for writing code, code reviews, generating test cases, and QA. Our full SDLC is accelerated by Cursor.
It started with expanding the use cases for Cursor beyond code generation to areas like debugging. Theuring explained that "Cursor excels at finding and resolving rare, persistent bugs." Cursor's ability to not only consistently identify these issues but also dispatch agents to solve them has been particularly impactful.
NVIDIA has also configured Cursor to automate entire workflows. For example, Theuring's team is using custom rules to automate the git flow: branch creation, code commits, CI debugging, and issue tracking. Luo's team is taking a similar approach to bug fixes with automation that starts by pulling context from tickets and documentation using MCP servers and finishes with Cursor implementing bug fixes and running tests for validation. Cursor's extensibility expanded the scope of impact from individual productivity to program level impact.
We have built a lot of custom rules in Cursor to fully automate entire workflows. That has unlocked Cursor's true potential.
Faster ramp times and compressed learning curves
Cursor is also helping NVIDIA's new hires get up to speed on unfamiliar codebases and start contributing in a much shorter timeframe than before.
It has also allowed senior developers to take on new challenges across new programming languages or parts of the tech stack. For example, experienced backend engineers are tackling frontend tasks more confidently than before. "Cursor allows developers to bridge their skill gaps and ramp in new areas faster," explained Luo.
Measuring value across development velocity and quality
NVIDIA is measuring Cursor's impact across a few key metrics:
- Adoption: Over 30,000 developers use Cursor daily
- Coding velocity: Developers using Cursor commit three times more code than before
- Code quality: Bug rates have stayed flat despite increases in coding velocity, and consistency in code style has improved
We are using Cursor every day, and now there's no going back because it has completely changed the way software engineering works. Building software is now a lot more fun than it used to be. I really love it.
If you're excited about building AI-native engineering teams, please reach out to our team to get started with a Cursor trial.