A distributed data processing apparatus and method through hardware acceleration are provided. The data processing apparatus includes a mapping node including mapping units configured to process input data in parallel to generate and output mapping results. The data processing apparatus further includes a shuffle node including shuffle units and a memory buffer, the shuffle units configured to process the mapping results output from the mapping units in parallel to generate and output shuffle results, and the shuffle node configured to write the shuffle results output from the shuffle units in the memory buffer. The data processing apparatus further includes a merge node including merge units configured to merge the shuffle results written in the memory buffer to generate merging results.