Cloud Hardware Trends Analysis 2015-2025: Network Bandwidth Improves 10x While NVMe Storage Stagnates
By
speckx
4mo ago· 5 min readenInsight
92/100
Golden Brown
Bagelometer↗
Toasted golden, schmeared with insight. Top of the rack.
Score92TypeanalysisSentimentneutral
Summary
This research paper analyzes cloud hardware trends from 2015 to 2025, focusing on AWS and comparing with other cloud providers and on-premise hardware. Key findings show network bandwidth per dollar improved 10x, while CPU and DRAM gains were more modest. Most surprisingly, NVMe storage performance in the cloud has stagnated since 2016. The paper examines CPU trends showing skyrocketing multi-core parallelism, with maximum core counts increasing significantly.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledWhile network bandwidth per dollar improved by one order of magnitude (10x), CPU and DRAM gains (again in performance per dollar terms) have been much more modest.
Most surprisingly, NVMe storage performance in the cloud has stagnated since 2016.
Multi-core parallelism has skyrocketed in the cloud. Maximum core counts have increased by an order of magnitude.
This paper (CIDR'26) presents a comprehensive analysis of cloud hardware trends from 2015 to 2025, focusing on AWS and comparing it with other clouds and on-premise hardware.
This paper (CIDR'26) presents a comprehensive analysis of cloud hardware trends from 2015 to 2025, focusing on AWS and comparing it wit...
