Microsoft (MSFT) Azure has become the first cloud service provider to begin validating Nvidia’s (NVDA) Vera Rubin NVL72 system, according to CEO Satya Nadella.
“We’re the first cloud to bring up an NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 system for validation, another big step in building the next generation of AI infrastructure with NVIDIA,” Nadella said in a post on X Friday afternoon.
Microsoft’s long-time partnership with Nvidia has allowed the company to better implement successive generations of their hardware in its data centers.
“Microsoft has years of market-proven experience in designing and deploying scalable AI infrastructure that evolves with every major advancement of AI technology,” said Rani Borkar, Microsoft’s president of Azure Hardware Systems. “In lockstep with each successive generation of NVIDIA’s accelerated compute infrastructure, Microsoft rapidly integrates NVIDIA’s innovations and delivers them at scale.”
“The NVIDIA Rubin platform marks a major step forward in accelerated computing, and Azure’s AI data centers and superfactories are already engineered to take full advantage,” Borkar added. “Years of co-design with NVIDIA across interconnects, memory systems, thermals, packaging, and rack-scale architecture means Rubin integrates directly into Azure’s platform without rework.”
Although Microsoft said it is the first to bring the Vera Rubin up for validation, multiple cloud providers are expected to deploy the technology in 2026. This includes Amazon Web Services (AMZN), CoreWeave (CRWV), Google (GOOG)(GOOGL), Nebius (NBIS), and Oracle (ORCL).
Each Vera Rubin NVL72 rack provides up to 3.6 exaflops of performance, which is about five times more than the GB200-based systems, according to Nvidia. Each rack combines 72 GPUs and 36 CPUs connected through sixth-generation NVLink, which provides 260 terabytes per second of bandwidth.