Core Insights - Amazon has launched Graviton5, the highest density and most powerful CPU to date, featuring 192 processor cores in a single slot, promising to elevate AWS performance to new heights [1][3] - Since its introduction in 2018, Graviton chips have become a cornerstone of AWS computing services, with over half of the new CPU capacity added in the past three years attributed to Graviton chips [1][3] Technical Specifications - Graviton5 is built on TSMC's 3nm process technology and includes 192 Arm Neoverse V3 cores, supported by a 192MB L3 cache, which reduces cache misses and enhances performance by minimizing data retrieval from slower DRAM [1][4] - The L3 cache capacity has increased 5.3 times from Graviton 4's 36MB to 192MB, improving each core's cache capacity from 376KB to 1MB, which is beneficial for low-latency applications [2][4] - The memory subsystem has been upgraded to support speeds of up to 7200 MT/s, with future support for 8800 MT/s DIMMs under development [1][4] Performance Enhancements - The new M9g instances based on Graviton5 show a 25% performance improvement over the previous M8g instances, which were based on Graviton4 [3][5] - Graviton5's architecture allows for reduced inter-core latency by approximately one-third, enhancing performance for workloads such as online gaming, high-performance databases, and data analytics [5][11] Competitive Positioning - Graviton5's core count of 192 matches the highest core counts from AMD and Intel, which have 192 and 144 cores respectively, positioning AWS competitively in the server CPU market [3][5] - The Nitro system, which Graviton5 instances utilize, offloads storage, networking, and virtualization functions, freeing up CPU resources for client workloads [7][12] Future Developments - AWS plans to release additional instance types, including C9g for compute-intensive workloads and R9g for memory-intensive workloads, in 2026 [15] - The introduction of the Nitro isolation engine enhances security by ensuring workload isolation through formal verification methods [13] Industry Context - Other companies, such as Microsoft and Google, are also developing custom CPUs, indicating a growing trend in the industry towards proprietary chip development for cloud services [8][9] - Amazon's Graviton5 is part of a broader strategy to optimize performance and cost-efficiency in cloud computing, addressing the increasing complexity and scale of cloud workloads [10][11]