A data processing method is disclosed, the method includes: receiving a request message that is sent from a host service layer and transparently transmitted through a host driver layer, where the request message includes at least one acceleration type identifier and to-be-acceleratedly-processed service data, and each acceleration type identifier corresponds to one type of accelerated processing; and performing at least one type of accelerated processing in a one-to-one correspondence with the at least one acceleration type identifier on the service data. In the method, interaction between the host service layer and the hardware processing unit does not need coordination of a specialized driver, so that dependence on a specific underlying driver for a service layer may be shielded.