This month, Amazon Web Services introduced the Graviton5, its fifth-generation custom general-purpose server processor, designed to compete against industry-standard CPUs from AMD and Intel in AWS's data centers. The new processor extends AWS's in-house Arm-based CPU program with a CPU that packs up to 192 cores and 180 MB of L3 cache, and is designed to compete with higher-end AMD EPYC and Intel Xeon processors, potentially replacing some of them in AWS data centers.
At a glance
The AWS Graviton5 processor is fabricated using a 3nm-class process, likely by TSMC. The processor integrates 192 Neoverse V3 cores alongside an assumed 180 MB L3 cache. AWS says that the new CPU will deliver 25% higher performance compared to its predecessor, which appears to be conservative, as the Graviton5 offers a twofold increase in the number of cores. The chip uses the Armv9.2 ISA that brings several microarchitecture enhancements and a fivefold increase in L3 cache size.
(Image credit: Arm)
The new processor is now available in Amazon EC2 M9g instances in preview, while compute-optimized C9g and memory-focused R9g variants are scheduled for launch in 2026. The current EC2 M9g instances are up to 30% faster for databases, up to 35% faster for web applications, and up to 35% faster for machine learning workloads compared to M8g, according to AWS.
Diving deeper: 192 Neoverse V3 cores
Amazon Web Services is intentionally opaque about the exact specifications and internal design of its Graviton5 CPU. Nonetheless, it offers comparisons with the previous-generation Graviton4 chip, which allows us to decode some details and delve into them with a little more depth.
AWS and Arm officially confirm that Graviton5 integrates 192 Neoverse V3 cores per package, fabricated using a 3nm-class process, making it the densest CPU in the Graviton lineup and the densest Armv9.2 processor available to date. The internal layout of the processor has been redesigned to reduce communication overhead, and AWS claims up to 33% lower inter-core latency, which is particularly noteworthy given the twofold increase in core count.
(Image credit: Arm)
When we discuss Neoverse V3, we cannot help but think about the Arm-developed compute subsystems (CSS). While Arm confirmed that we are dealing with Neoverse V3, neither Amazon nor Arm has confirmed that Graviton5 uses Arm-developed CSS. That means we're likely dealing with a unique design in Graviton 5.
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