Microsoft has launched its VM service running on the Cobalt 100 CPU, designed in-house by Microsoft. After a period of testing, it is now generally available.
The Cobalt 100 CPU was first introduced in November 2023, utilizing Arm64 architecture. Microsoft claims that the Cobalt 100 outperforms previous Arm CPUs on Azure (not compared to x86) by an average of 1.4x, with Java performance improved by 1.5x and web server and .NET workloads enhanced by 2x, all while offering a 50% increase in performance per dollar.
The Cobalt 100 CPU is currently available in the Southeast Asia region, with prices starting at $15.95 per month for the lowest specification Dpsv6 general-purpose machine with 2 vCPU and 8 GB of RAM when booked as a spot instance.
TLDR: Microsoft introduces VM service on the Cobalt 100 CPU with enhanced performance on Azure and cost-effective options in Southeast Asia.
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