AWS re:Invent 2025 - Unleashing Performance: How Intel Xeon 6 on AWS EC2 Is Redefining Compute & TCO

Unleashing Performance: How Intel Xeon 6 on AWS EC2 Is Redefining Compute & TCO

Highlights of the AWS and Intel Partnership

• Collaboration between AWS and Intel spanning nearly two decades since the launch of Amazon EC2 in 2006
• Strategic alliance focused on meeting customer requirements through technical collaboration, deep integration, and continuous innovation
• Over 450 distinct Intel-based EC2 instance types, providing unparalleled flexibility for customers

Key Innovations in Gen 8 Intel-based Instances

• Custom Intel Xeon 6 processor designed exclusively for AWS

  • Offers up to 20% higher performance compared to previous generation Intel instances
  • Delivers 60% higher performance on NGINX web server benchmarks and up to 40% improvement on AI/ML recommendation models
  • Provides 15% better price-performance ratio

• New features:

  • DDR5 memory with up to 7200 MT/s, faster than standard Intel CPUs
  • Instance Bandwidth Configuration (IBC) to optimize networking and EBS bandwidth
  • Flex instances for workloads with lower CPU utilization, offering 5% better price-performance

Customer Success Stories

Salesforce

• Adopted the latest Gen 8 Intel instances early for their Hyperforce cloud platform
• Observed over 30% higher throughput on 48XL instances for their critical workloads
• Collaborated closely with Intel and AWS on early access, testing, and capacity planning

Pinterest

• Partnered with Intel on hardware profiling, software optimizations, and performance tooling
• Saw 30% improvement in price-performance on database workloads with Intel Xeon 5 Emerald Rapids
• Excited about 20% performance gains with Intel Xeon 6 Granite Rapids R8I instances

Nutanix

• Extended their on-premises platform to AWS as "Nutanix Cloud Clusters" (NC2)
• Leveraged Intel processors and AWS instances to enable fast, cost-effective cloud migrations and DR solutions
• Achieved speed, simplicity, and modernization in their cloud transformation journey

Key Takeaways

1. Hardware improvements are critical for cloud modernization, providing the necessary performance.
2. Software and ecosystem optimizations, enabled by deep partnerships, unlock further performance gains.
3. Reliable global supply chain access to the latest Intel-powered AWS instances is key for scaling cloud deployments.
4. Customers across industries are realizing significant performance, efficiency, and cost benefits by leveraging the AWS and Intel collaboration.