AWS launches Graviton5-powered R9g and R9gd memory-optimized instances

September 1, 2026 at 01:45 AM2 min

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Amazon Web Services launched its new Graviton5-powered R9g and R9gd memory-optimized instances, available today in multiple cloud regions. The instances target data-intensive workloads such as in-memory databases, big data analytics, and containerized microservices. The launch follows the earlier release of Graviton5-based M9g and C9g instance families.

Key Facts

R9g and R9gd instances are available in 11 sizes, scaling up to metal-48xl configurations with 192 vCPUs and 1,536 GiB of memory.
Graviton5 delivers up to 25% better compute performance, 35% faster web application execution, and 30% faster database processing compared to Graviton4.
R9gd supports local NVMe SSD storage up to 11.4 terabytes on the largest 48xlarge sizes, while R9g relies exclusively on attached EBS volumes.
The instances support up to 100 Gbps of network bandwidth and 72 Gbps of Amazon EBS bandwidth, more than double the previous generation.
The AWS Nitro System with Nitro Isolation Engine offloads virtualization, storage, and networking to dedicated hardware for bare-metal-like performance.

Graviton5 Architecture

Graviton5 processors pair with DDR5 8800 memory modules supporting 8,800 megatransfers per second, up from 5,600 MT/s in Graviton4. The chips feature a five-times-larger L3 cache and three-times-higher packet-processing performance than Graviton4. AWS Principal Developer Advocate Daniel Abib announced the instances in a blog post, noting they target in-memory databases like Redis OSS, Memcached, and Valkey. The Graviton5 CPUs were first announced at AWS re:Invent in December and have since appeared in M9g and C9g instance families.

Instance Specifications

R9g instances rely exclusively on attached EBS volumes, while R9gd adds high-density local NVMe SSD storage. The largest R9gd 48xlarge configuration offers up to 11.4 terabytes of local NVMe storage for ultra-low-latency performance. An Instance Bandwidth Configuration feature allows users to reallocate up to 25% of bandwidth between EBS and VPC networking. The instances support workloads such as big data analytics engines, high-throughput web services, and containerized microservices on Kubernetes and Amazon EKS.

Nitro System Integration

The AWS Nitro System incorporates the Nitro Isolation Engine, first introduced with the M9g and C9g instance families. NIE offloads virtualization, storage, and networking tasks to dedicated hardware, achieving bare-metal-like performance. The offloading maintains strict workload isolation for security purposes.