Google Cloud, Nvidia to Launch Vera Rubin-Powered A5X Instances Next Month

Google Cloud and Nvidia said Wednesday that A5X instances powered by Nvidia Vera Rubin NVL72 systems will be generally available next month, adding computing capacity for AI training, inference and reinforcement learning, with plans to expand availability in Europe. The instances pair Nvidia's Vera Rubin systems and ConnectX-9 SuperNICs with Google Cloud's Virgo Network and liquid-cooling technology. Google Cloud aims to deploy up to 960,000 Vera Rubin GPUs across its data centers. London-based Ineffable Intelligence, founded by AlphaGo creator David Silver, was the first customer to use A5X for reinforcement learning research. Marketing firm WPP has also tested creative AI agents on the platform, which ran tasks typically requiring multiple interconnected servers on a single instance. Google Cloud also plans rack-scale Nvidia Confidential Computing on bare-metal instances. In pre-market Nasdaq activity, Alphabet shares fell roughly 1% after closing at $336.40 on Tuesday, while Nvidia gained nearly 2% from Tuesday's close of $216.47.