Amazon Web Services (AWS) today announced the general availability of Amazon EC2 X8i instances, new memory-optimized instances powered by custom Intel Xeon 6 processors with a sustained all-core turbo frequency of 3.9 GHz—available exclusively on AWS. Following their preview launch at AWS re:Invent 2024, these SAP-certified instances deliver the highest performance and fastest memory bandwidth among comparable Intel processors in the cloud.
Designed for Memory-Intensive Workloads
X8i instances are purpose-built for demanding memory-intensive applications including in-memory databases such as SAP HANA, traditional large-scale databases, data analytics, and electronic design automation (EDA). These workloads require both high compute performance and large memory footprints to process complex queries and handle massive datasets efficiently.
Significant Performance Improvements
Compared to previous generation X2i instances, X8i instances deliver substantial improvements across multiple dimensions:
- 1.5x more memory capacity (up to 6 TB)
- 3.4x more memory bandwidth
- Up to 43% higher overall performance
- Up to 50% higher SAP Application Performance Standard (SAPS) performance
- Up to 47% faster PostgreSQL performance
- Up to 88% faster Memcached performance
- Up to 46% faster AI inference performance
Real-World Customer Impact
During the preview period, customers experienced measurable business benefits. RISE with SAP utilized the full 6 TB memory capacity with 50% higher compute performance compared to X2i instances, enabling faster transaction processing and improved query response times for SAP HANA workloads.
Orion achieved significant cost savings by reducing the number of active cores on X8i instances compared to X2idn instances while maintaining performance thresholds, cutting SQL Server licensing costs by 50%.
Flexible Instance Sizing
X8i instances are available in 14 sizes to match your specific workload requirements:
- 12 standard sizes including three larger options (48xlarge, 64xlarge, and 96xlarge) for scaling up demanding applications
- 2 bare metal sizes (metal-48xl and metal-96xl) for workloads that benefit from direct access to physical resources
All X8i instances feature up to 100 Gbps of network bandwidth with support for Elastic Fabric Adapter (EFA) and up to 80 Gbps of throughput to Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS), ensuring high-performance connectivity for distributed workloads.
Get Started Today
X8i instances are now generally available in multiple AWS Regions. To learn more about X8i instances and get started, visit the Amazon EC2 X8i instances page.
For detailed technical specifications and pricing information, see the Amazon EC2 pricing page.
