Domain Blueprint — All 22 Subdomains

The official NCA-AIIO exam covers three domains, divided into 22 scored subdomains.

Domain 1 — Essential AI Knowledge (38%)

Subdomain	Topic
1.1	NVIDIA software stack in an AI environment
1.2	Training vs inference architecture requirements
1.3	AI vs ML vs DL
1.4	Factors behind recent AI improvements and adoption
1.5	Key AI use cases and industries
1.6	NVIDIA solutions: purpose and use cases
1.7	AI development/deployment lifecycle software components
1.8	GPU vs CPU architectures

Domain 2 — AI Infrastructure (40%)

Subdomain	Topic
2.1	Hardware requirements for specific AI training task use cases
2.2	Scaling GPU infrastructure
2.3	Power and cooling requirements
2.4	On-premises vs cloud
2.5	Cluster components of accelerated infrastructure
2.6	Facility requirements
2.7	Networking requirements for AI workloads
2.8	Data center networking protocols and key concepts
2.9	High-speed data center network options and use cases
2.10	DPU purpose and benefits

Domain 3 — AI Operations (22%)

Subdomain	Topic
3.1	AI data center management and monitoring essentials
3.2	Cluster orchestration and job scheduling
3.3	GPU monitoring key measures
3.4	Virtualizing accelerated infrastructure

Domain weights visualized

Domain 1 — Essential AI Knowledge    38%  ████████████████████░░░░░░░░░░
Domain 2 — AI Infrastructure         40%  ████████████████████████░░░░░░
Domain 3 — AI Operations             22%  █████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

50 questions total · 60 minutes · passing score not publicly disclosed