AWS raises GPU prices 15% on a Saturday, hopes you weren't paying attention (www.theregister.com)

AWS has notably increased its GPU pricing by approximately 15% for its EC2 Capacity Blocks for machine learning, raising the costs of popular instances such as the p5e.48xlarge and p5en.48xlarge. This price change, which occurred discreetly over the weekend, marks a significant shift in a company historically known for only reducing prices. The move raises concerns within the AI/ML community, particularly for enterprises reliant on guaranteed GPU capacity for critical workloads, as these increases can affect the overall costs associated with their operations and enterprise discount agreements. The decision to hike prices comes amidst a global GPU supply constraint and follows a previous announcement of substantial price cuts earlier this year, creating a stark contrast in AWS's pricing strategy. This change not only positions AWS against its competitors, Azure and GCP, but also breaks a long-standing expectation that cloud service costs would consistently decrease. As AWS sets this precedent, the implications extend beyond just GPU pricing; it raises questions about future pricing increases across other essential services and resources within its cloud offering, suggesting a potential normalization of rising prices in the cloud landscape.