CUDA is the assembly to Torch's high-level language; for most, it's a very good intermediary, but an intermediary nonetheless, as it is between the actual code

CUDA is the assembly to Torch's high-level language; for most, it's a very good intermediary, but an intermediary nonetheless, as it is between the actual code they are interested in, and the hardware that runs it. Most customers care about cost-effectiveness more than best-in-class raw-performance, a fact that AMD has ruthlessly exploited over the past 8 years. It helps that AMD products are occasionally both.