Meet someone near you.
Live video chat with people nearby. One tap, free to start.
Google Cloud and Nvidia made an announcement at GTC Berlin 2026. Google Cloud Vera Rubin instances, known as A5X, will become generally available next month. The bare-metal instances run on Nvidia’s Vera Rubin NVL72 rack-scale systems. They target agentic inference and large-scale reinforcement learning workloads. The announcement extends a cloud partnership between the two companies that spans more than a decade.
What the Google Cloud Vera Rubin instances offer
A5X instances combine several pieces of hardware. That includes Nvidia Vera Rubin NVL72 systems, Nvidia ConnectX-9 SuperNICs, Google Cloud’s Virgo Network, and the company’s fourth-generation liquid cooling. Google Cloud’s AI Hypercomputer architecture ties it all together. That architecture combines compute, networking and storage. Nvidia described the result as “an integrated platform for training, inference and large-scale reinforcement learning” for cloud customers.
Google plans to scale the deployment to as many as 960,000 Rubin GPUs spread across multiple sites. Commentary on the announcement notes something important, though. Both an 80,000-GPU single-site figure and the 960,000 total are architectural targets. They are not capacity that is currently installed. General availability is set for November 2026. European availability is planned as part of the rollout.
Who is already using the platform
Ineffable Intelligence, a London-based company founded by David Silver, became the first customer with early access to A5X. It is using the platform for large-scale reinforcement learning. “We’re building superlearners that continually improve through their own experience,” Silver said. Advertising and marketing firm WPP also demonstrated a creative agent architecture on A5X. In initial tests, workloads that typically required a multi-node cluster ran on a single instance instead.
Both early customers represent different bets on what A5X is for. Ineffable’s reinforcement-learning focus tests the platform’s claims about training throughput. WPP’s single-instance result, on the other hand, speaks more directly to the cost and simplicity pitch Nvidia and Google are making to enterprise buyers.
Confidential computing and related announcements
Alongside A5X, Google Cloud said it will offer Nvidia Confidential Computing at rack scale. This runs on bare-metal A4X Max instances built on GB300 NVL72 hardware. Confidential Computing is also set to reach general availability on G4 virtual machines. Those machines use RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs. Early users include Vertebrae, Polaris Cloud and Confidential Core AI. Google and Nvidia also said they are exploring Nvidia’s DSX MaxLPS technology. The goal is improving performance per watt across Google’s data centers.
Why this matters beyond one product launch
The announcement highlights an unusual dynamic in cloud computing. Google is simultaneously one of Nvidia’s largest customers and one of its most direct competitors. That rivalry comes from Google’s own Tensor Processing Units and Gemini AI models. Commentary on the GTC Berlin announcements argues that competition among AI infrastructure providers is shifting. The focus is moving away from raw chip specifications. It is moving toward total factory economics instead: networking, storage, power efficiency and cost per generated token. That shift explains something specific. Features like Virgo Network and fourth-generation liquid cooling got equal billing with the Vera Rubin chips themselves.
What happens before general availability
Between now and the November rollout, Google and Nvidia will need to validate the platform at larger scale. That means moving beyond early-access customers like Ineffable Intelligence and WPP. European availability timing is one detail to watch. Nvidia and Google described it only as “planned,” language that leaves room for it to firm up or slip in the coming weeks. Pricing details were also not disclosed at the Berlin announcement. Buyers evaluating the platform will likely wait for those numbers before committing to anything. For enterprises already running workloads on Google Cloud’s existing AI Hypercomputer instances, the practical question will be how A5X pricing compares once it is published, and whether migrating existing workloads makes financial sense on top of the performance gains Nvidia and Google are promoting. That cost comparison, more than the headline specifications, is likely to decide how quickly early interest turns into paying customers. Neither company has said when that pricing information will surface, so for now the comparison remains theoretical.
More cloud and AI coverage
AI infrastructure news moved quickly this week across the industry. See our reports on Nvidia and Huawei’s AI chip market share in China, Anthropic’s Q3 2026 revenue results, and Anthropic’s warning on self-replicating AI systems.
Google Cloud Vera Rubin: frequently asked questions
- When do Google Cloud Vera Rubin instances become available? Google says A5X instances will reach general availability in November 2026, with European availability also planned.
- What hardware powers the A5X instances? A5X runs on Nvidia Vera Rubin NVL72 rack-scale systems with ConnectX-9 SuperNICs, integrated into Google Cloud’s AI Hypercomputer.
- How many GPUs does Google plan to deploy? Google’s architectural target is up to 960,000 Rubin GPUs across multiple sites, though this is a planning figure, not installed capacity.
- Who has early access to the platform? London-based Ineffable Intelligence and advertising firm WPP are named early-access customers.
- Is Google a competitor or customer of Nvidia? Both. Google buys Nvidia GPUs for cloud customers while also developing its own competing Tensor Processing Units and Gemini models.
- Was pricing announced for A5X? No. Nvidia and Google did not disclose pricing details at the GTC Berlin announcement.
References and sources
- StorageNewsletter — Nvidia GTC Berlin 2026: Google Cloud and Nvidia announce general availability of Nvidia Vera Rubin infrastructure. https://www.storagenewsletter.com/2026/10/23/nvidia-gtc-berlin-2026-google-cloud-and-nvidia-announce-general-availability-of-nvidia-vera-rubin-infrastructure/
- Analytics India Magazine — From humanoid robots to telecom trials: 12 major announcements at Nvidia GTC Berlin 2026. https://analyticsindiamag.com/deep-tech/from-humanoid-robots-to-telecom-trials-12-major-announcements-at-nvidia-gtc-berlin-2026
Verification your users actually receive.
Send one-time passcodes over WhatsApp with a single API call. Replio can generate, hash and verify the code for you.
