HPC Cloud Updates WE 21 Dec 2025
Updates to AWS, Azure & GCP in the last week relevant for HPC practitioners. It might be the week before Christmas but it doesn’t look like anyone is slowing down! Google gives us an alternative to PCS, we have some new VMs from AWS and Azure NetApp gets some upgrades.
AWS
Dropping costs and getting a speedup is always nice!
M8gn and M8gb (network and EBS optimised variants) are now generally available, In N. Virginia and Oregon for now.
You can now use Zone IDs when creating VMs rather than just names
New regional instances: C8a in Spain, R8i and the the flex version now in Seoul, Sao Paulo and Tokyo, C8g in Zurich, M8g in Thailand, Jakarta, Melbourne and the UAE, R8g in Paris and Hyderabad, C8i and the flex version in Singapore, M8i in Seoul, Tokyo, Sydney, Singapore and Canada, M8i-flex in Sydney AND London finally gets some M7a
Azure
Azure NetApp gets cross region replication and ransomware protection
Google Cloud
Have Google brought the fight to AWS PCS? Cluster Director looks like a fully managed way to run Slurm for HPC on Google Cloud including planning your deployment. All just after Nvidia announced its acquisition of Slurm.
