AWS acquires Apple Mac Studio units

Amazon Web Services said on May 14 that its EC2 M3 Ultra Mac instances were generally available, adding Apple Mac Studio hardware to its cloud lineup for developers building software for Apple platforms. The launch gives AWS customers remote access to Mac Studio systems based on Apple's M3 Ultra chip rather than requiring them to buy the machines directly. AWS said the instances are aimed at build-and-test workloads across iOS, macOS, iPadOS, tvOS, watchOS, visionOS and Safari. TechRadar reported on May 19 that the move came as some Mac Studio buyers faced long delivery times for certain configurations. ### Which Mac Studio systems is AWS actually putting into the cloud? AWS said the new instances run on Apple Mac Studio computers built around the M3 Ultra chip. The company said each system includes a 28-core CPU, 60-core GPU, 32-core Neural Engine and 256GB of unified memory. Apple said when it introduced M3 Ultra in March 2025 that the chip was designed for heavily threaded and bandwidth-intensive applications, and that Mac Studio with M3 Ultra could run large language models with more than 600 billion parameters on device. Apple also said M3 Ultra supports up to a 32-core CPU, up to an 80-core GPU and more than half a terabyte of unified memory, depending on configuration. (aws.amazon.com) ### Why would developers rent these machines instead of buying them? AWS said the instances are intended for Apple developers moving demanding build and test workloads onto the cloud. The company said the added memory and compute headroom versus its EC2 M4 Max Mac instances would let developers run more Xcode simulators in parallel and speed on-device machine-learning workflows. (apple.com) The Register reported on May 15 that AWS was still following its established EC2 Mac model of using physical Apple hardware in its infrastructure, and said the service is marketed as a platform for building and testing apps for Apple's operating systems. The publication said AWS had not, at that time, posted pricing for the new M3 Ultra offering. (aws.amazon.com) ### Are these the same configurations Apple sells to ordinary buyers? The Register reported that the AWS machines offered 256GB of unified memory, a configuration it did not see listed on Apple's retail site at the time it prepared its report. The publication also said Apple was advising some Mac Studio buyers to expect waits of nine to 10 weeks for delivery. (theregister.com) TechRadar, in a May 19 report aggregated by TechNewsTube, said AWS had acquired scarce Mac Studio systems and was renting them through limited cloud regions. The report said regular buyers were facing waits of more than two months for some configurations. ### Where can customers get the new instances? (theregister.com) AWS said the M3 Ultra Mac instances are available in U.S. East, in Northern Virginia, and U.S. West, in Oregon. The company said the systems use the AWS Nitro System and offer up to 10 Gbps network bandwidth and 8 Gbps of Amazon Elastic Block Store bandwidth. (technewstube.com) AWS had already expanded its Mac cloud lineup before this launch. The company announced preview availability of EC2 M4 Max Mac instances in December 2025, also based on Mac Studio hardware for Apple development workloads. ### What comes next for customers trying to use them? AWS said customers can find the new systems through the Amazon EC2 Mac page, where the service documents supported regions and instance details. (aws.amazon.com) The company did not disclose in its May 14 announcement how many Mac Studio units it had acquired or what it paid for them. (aws.amazon.com)