To date, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has not deployed Generation 9 processors used by Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and Aliyun Cloud, according to data from market intelligence provider Liftr Insights.
Tab Schadt, Liftr's CEO, indicated that this represents a rare instance in which AWS is bucking its pattern of being a trendsetter in the public cloud space:
"This is inconsistent for AWS (and an interesting signal). To lag behind its peers is far from normal for AWS."
What You Need to Know About Generation 9 Processors
Generation 9 is the latest processor architectural generation and includes Intel Sapphire Rapids, AMD Genoa and Aliyun T-Head Yitian processors, Liftr noted. This processor generation offers support for DDR5 memory, PCIe 5.0 and CXL 1.1. Also, Generation 9 processors have more physical cores and offer greater bandwidth than their predecessors.
Aliyun Cloud was the first to deploy Generation 9 processors, Liftr reported. From here, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud deployed these processors. And, AWS is now the only top-four CSP to not deploy these processors.
Why Hasn't AWS Deployed Generation 9 Processors?
Not being one of the first CSPs to deploy Generation 9 processors is "not everything ... (but) certainly off-brand for AWS," Schadt stated.
AWS was the first CSP to deploy Generation 6 processors and second to deploy Generation 8 processors, Liftr stated. Comparatively, AWS has never deployed Generation 7 processors.
In November 2022, AWS announced its new R7iz instance type based on the Generation 9 Intel Sapphire Rapids processor. R7iz instances are available in preview mode and may become generally available in the near future.
AWS is the "world's most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud," according to the CSP. It offers over 200 fully featured services and supports millions of customers from data centers around the world.
