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Hey! It’s my first post for 2026 and I’m writing to you while I watch our driveway being dug up. I hope wherever you are you are safe and warm and your data keeps flowing!
This week brings exciting news for customers with GPU-intensive workloads, with the launch of our latest graphics and AI instances based on the latest NVIDIA Blackwell architecture. Along with several service enhancements and regional expansions, this week’s updates continue to expand the options available to AWS customers.
Last week’s launch
I thought these projects, blog posts and news were also interesting:
- Amazon EC2 G7e Instances Now Generally Available — New G7e instances accelerated by NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs deliver up to 2.3x better inference performance compared to G6e instances. With twice the GPU memory and support for up to 8 GPUs providing 768GB of total GPU memory, these instances allow running medium-sized models with parameters up to 70B with FP8 precision on a single GPU. G7e instances are ideal for generative AI inference, spatial computing, and scientific computing tasks. Now available in US East (N. Virginia) and US East (Ohio).
- January 2026 Amazon Corretto Quarterly Updates – AWS has released quarterly security and critical updates for Amazon Corretto’s long-term supported versions of OpenJDK (LTS). Corretto 25.0.2, 21.0.10, 17.0.18, 11.0.30 and 8u482 are now available, ensuring Java developers have access to the latest security patches and performance improvements.
- Amazon ECR now supports sharing layers between repositories – Amazon Elastic Container Registry now allows you to share common image layers across repositories by attaching blobs. This feature helps you achieve faster image embedding by reusing existing layers and reduce storage costs by saving common layers once and referencing them across repositories.
- Amazon CloudWatch Database Insights Expands to Four Additional Regions – CloudWatch Database Insights on-demand analytics is now available in Asia Pacific (New Zealand), Asia Pacific (Taipei), Asia Pacific (Thailand), and Mexico (Central). This feature uses machine learning to identify performance bottlenecks and provide specific advice on how to fix them.
- Amazon Connect adds conditional logic and real-time updates to step-by-step guides – Amazon Connect step-by-step guides now allow managers to create dynamically controlled environments that adapt based on user interactions. Administrators can configure conditional user interfaces with drop-down menus that show or hide fields, change default values, or edit required fields based on previous input. The feature also supports automatic data refresh from Connect sources, ensuring agents are always working with up-to-date information.
Upcoming AWS events
Follow us and don’t forget to sign up for these upcoming events:
- AWS re:Invent Highlights (January 28-29, Virtual) — Join us for this free virtual event that brings you the most impactful announcements and sessions from AWS re:Invent. AWS Vice President and Chief Evangelist Jeff Barr will share highlights during the opening session. Sessions take place on January 28th at 9:00am PT for AMER and January 29th at 9:00am SGT for APJ and 9:00am CET for EMEA. Register for access to curated technical tutorials, strategic insights from AWS leaders, and live Q&A with AWS experts.
- AWS Community Day Ahmedabad (February 28, 2026, Ahmedabad, India) — The 11th edition of this community-driven AWS conference brings together cloud professionals, developers, architects, and students for expertly-led technical sessions, real-world use cases, tech expo booths with live demonstrations, and networking opportunities. This free event includes breakfast, lunch and exclusive loot.
Join the AWS Builder Center to learn, build, and connect with builders in the AWS community. Browse upcoming in-person and virtual developer-focused events in your area.
That’s it for this week. Check back next Monday for another weekly recap!
~ micha