A major international player in the computing world has opened a new technology center in Avis Farms just south of Ann Arbor. NVIDIA doesn’t have the name recognition of Apple or Dell, but its software helps design products and components that find their way into many of the electronic products we use every day.

The scope of NVIDIA’s product development can difficult to comprehend. The software and hardware tools created by the company are used for such wide-ranging functions as helping smartphones function, creating dazzling special effects in movies and designing cars.

Danny Shapiro, director of marketing at NVIDIA, said the company's new Ann Arbor technology center will focus on car design, car info-tainment systems and connected vehicle and self-driving vehicle technologies.

Courtesy NVIDIA

“We’ve been working with the automotive companies in the Detroit area for over a decade, but that work has mostly been done by employees working out of their homes,” NVIDIA marketing director Danny Shapiro said.

“Several years ago we started focusing in on vehicle application and we realized that we needed a greater presence here locally and a physical space to be in.”

The tech center will support about 20 employees primarily dedicated to working with the local automotive community. Shapiro said that additional work will likely be done at the center with super computing and graphics development. NVIDIA has approximately 12 employees currently working in the region and plans to grow the local workforce over the coming months both through new hirings and relocations.

“We’re going to have software engineers, hardware engineers and field application engineers working here as well as people on the business and marketing side,” NVIDIA vice president for worldwide automotive sales and Ann Arbor site leader Phil Hughes said.

“Some people will work every day out of the office while others will use it as a landing pad. What’s really unique about what we have here is that it’s a great office facility and we have a garage that’s built so that a car can be driven directly into the laboratory space.”

NVIDIA’s corporate headquarters are located in Santa Clara, Calif., and the company has offices in 14 states, including the new Michigan location. Globally, NVIDIA has operations in China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates and nine Western European countries, including England, Italy and France.

The company started in 1993 and went public on the NASDAQ exchange (NASDAQ: NVDA) in 1999 when it developed the GPU (graphics processing unit) processor. The company has more than 8,000 employees worldwide and reported $4.2 billion in estimated revenue in the 2013 fiscal year.

When combined with a normal CPU (central processing unit, the type of chip that powers most computers), the GPU processor created by NVIDIA allows faster and smoother operations of everything from personal computers to smartphones to powerful supercomputers.

More recently, the company’s processors have been used to power the “infotainment” systems that are becoming increasingly standard in new cars on the market.

NVIDIA already works with companies like Audi in designing video screen consoles that go into cars like this one headed into the new Ann Arbor Technology Center.

Courtesy NVIDIA

“Our processors are found right now in Audi, BMW, VW and Tesla Motors cars and we’re engaged with the automakers in the Detroit metro area in future programs as well.”

Shapiro said that the company is working with auto companies on projects ranging from the physical design of the car’s exterior to the possibility of using vision systems that can lead to connected cars and self-driving vehicles.

“We’ve engaged with a lot of the self-driving initiatives out in Silicon Valley,” he said.

“But to really be a player in the automotive world, having a presence in the Detroit area is an absolute necessity.”

In a press release, NVIDIA cited the presence of the University of Michigan and other automotive technical centers as reasons for locating in the Ann Arbor area. Avis Farms, located off State Road just south of the Ann Arbor Airport in Pittsfield Township, is home to a number of high-tech engineering companies and manufacturers.

The tech center will be in a suite at 525 Avis Drive, a property that was purchased in a foreclosure sale in June 2012 for $1.15 million by 525 Avis LLC. According to Pittsfield Township tax records, the sale was for approximately half of the property’s assessed market value.

A number of suites in the building continue to be listed for lease by Neal Warling of Jones Lang LaSalle. The suites range from 2,200 square feet to 4,500 square feet and all have a $14.50 per square foot per year rental rate.

Hughes said that NVIDIA has been looking to open an office in the area for approximately two years and is happy to be officially joining the Ann Arbor community. The company already has some Ann Arbor-style credentials, ranking No. 6 on Newsweek’s list of “greenest companies” in 2012.

Ben Freed covers business for AnnArbor.com. You can sign up here to receive Business Review updates every week. Get in touch with Ben at 734-623-2528 or email him at benfreed@annarbor.com. Follow him on twitter @BFreedinA2