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[Booth Report] I encountered the Graviton5, making its Japan debut!!
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Introduction
Hello everyone, this is Akaike.
Today I attended AWS Summit Japan 2026.
At AWS events like this, AWS hardware that you don't normally get to see is displayed in person, and it's something I look forward to every year.
And this time, Graviton5, which was just released this month, was on display as a "Japan First Public Release," so I'd like to share the photos I took at the booth.
Here is last year's blog post.
What is Graviton5?
First, let me give a quick overview of Graviton5.
Graviton is an Arm-based processor independently designed by AWS.
It is known for its excellent price-performance ratio and has continued to evolve with each generation.
The latest generation Graviton5-powered instances (M9g/M9gd) became generally available (GA) on June 10, 2026.
Here is a quick summary of Graviton5's key features from the official blog.
- Features 192 cores with L3 cache 5x larger compared to Graviton4
- Supports DDR5-8800 memory, with inter-core latency reduced by up to 33% compared to Graviton4
- Compute performance improved by up to 25% compared to Graviton4-based instances
- Compared to Graviton4, web applications are up to 35% faster, machine learning inference up to 35% faster, and databases up to 30% faster
Booth Highlights
From here, I'll introduce the photos I actually took at the booths.
Infrastructure Technology Supporting Generative AI (AWS Silicon Innovation)
The first booth I visited was called "Infrastructure Technology Supporting Generative AI."
It was displayed under the concept of how AWS silicon innovation supports next-generation AI infrastructure.
At this booth, the actual chips for AI/ML — Inferentia and Trainium — were on display.
From left to right, Inferentia, Trainium, and Trainium2 are lined up — quite charming.
One panel that I personally found myself staring at was this one.
Starting from XEN in 2010, the history of AWS silicon development including Nitro, Graviton, and Trainium is summarized in a timeline format.
Graviton has evolved from the first generation in 2018 all the way to this Graviton5, and Trainium/Inferentia have steadily expanded their generations as well — the bar graph rising to the right perfectly illustrates the pace of that evolution.
Looking at it all together like this, you can see at a glance the trajectory of AWS's investment in hardware, and it's quite moving.
AWS Compute Core Services
The next booth I visited was "AWS Compute Core Services."
It was a corner that broadly covered general EC2, EC2 Spot, AI/ML, HPC, and even quantum computing.
At this booth, Nitro Cards — which support AWS's virtualization infrastructure — were also displayed by generation.
Nitro Cards are cards designed to offload processing such as storage, networking, management, and security to dedicated hardware.
Lining them up side by side, you can clearly see how the board design has changed from one generation to the next — quite fascinating.
Graviton5 — Japan First Public Release
And here it is — the Graviton5 I came to see.
(It's right next to the Nitro Card)
NitroV5, Graviton4, and Graviton5 were displayed side by side.
And please take a look at the whiteboard in the background.
June 10 GA
Graviton5 Japan First Public Release!!
JAPAN First Public Release
It seems this is the first time the actual chip has been displayed in Japan.
Being able to see the latest chip, fresh off the release, in person at the Japan first public release timing is truly exciting…!!
Since I had the chance, I'll also include a close-up photo of just the Graviton5.
Side Note: About Annapurna Labs
The Graviton5 I mentioned earlier has an engraving that reads "annapurnalabs."
(Did everyone know about Annapurna Labs? I didn't…)
At the booth, there was a representative from Annapurna Labs, the company that designs these chips,
and it turns out that AWS chips such as Nitro, Graviton, and Trainium are all developed by this Annapurna Labs.
I learned this fact for the very first time at that moment.
Even though I use Graviton regularly, I didn't know anything about the company that makes it…
I was reminded that even with things you love, you often don't know what's going on behind the scenes.
Bonus: Everyone's Favorite — AWS Outposts
In a nearby corner, the AWS Outposts rack (second generation) was on display.
AWS Outposts is a hybrid service for using AWS in on-premises environments that have requirements for low latency or data residency.
Here is a quick summary of the key features of the second-generation AWS Outposts rack.
- A new "Outposts Network Rack" has been added, serving as the central hub for all traffic
- Supports the latest generation x86-based instances (C7i/M7i/R7i), delivering up to 40% better performance compared to the previous generation C5/M5/R5
- For core financial transaction systems, a dedicated accelerated network instance (bmn-sf2e) is available, targeting ultra-low latency and deterministic performance
- For high-throughput, low-latency workloads such as 5G Core, the bmn-cx2 equipped with NVIDIA ConnectX-7 is available
- Also supports native Layer 2 multicast and Precision Time Protocol (PTP)
And here is the actual rack in person.
I was so thrilled that I had someone take a photo of the two of us together.
The chip was palm-sized, but this rack is bigger than the average adult male and has quite a commanding presence.
Looking at the rack on its own, you can see that colorful cables are packed in densely all throughout the wiring.
Beautiful, isn't it…
However, at this size, there's no way it would fit in a typical home. What a shame.
Closing
And that's a wrap — I got to encounter the Japan first public release!! of Graviton5 at AWS Summit Japan.
Every year I'm reminded that getting to see AWS infrastructure in person, when you usually can only interact with it through the cloud, is a truly valuable experience.
This year in particular, being able to see the brand-new Graviton5 at the moment of its Japan first public release made for a very satisfying Summit. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
And since tomorrow (2026/06/26) is the final day of AWS Summit 2026, I encourage everyone to come see Graviton5 in person and get a photo taken with AWS Outposts.
