AMD and Oracle plan EPYC-powered OCI E7 instances and Pensando networking

AMD and Oracle said upcoming Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Compute E7 instances will use sixth-generation AMD EPYC processors. AMD Pensando data-processing units, meanwhile, will support Oracle Acceleron networking for OCI instances powered by AMD.

AMD’s role spans two parts of OCI under the expanded infrastructure collaboration. EPYC 9006-series processors, based on the architecture code-named Venice, will provide the CPU foundation for E7. Pensando DPUs will underpin Acceleron converged network interface cards, or SmartNICs, for AMD compute and accelerator instances. Oracle has not given a general-availability date, regions, pricing or final instance shapes for E7.

A DPU is a programmable processor that handles infrastructure work separately from a server’s main CPU. Oracle and AMD said their co-engineered design moves networking, storage, security and other cloud-control functions closer to the data path, leaving more host CPU capacity for customer applications. The Acceleron SmartNIC architecture combines host networking and cloud-control functions while maintaining isolation between customer and cloud-managed functions.

Oracle lists portfolio maximums for sixth-generation EPYC of 256 cores and 512 threads per socket, 1,024 MB of L3 cache, 16 memory channels at up to 8,000 MT/s and PCIe 6.0 connectivity. Those figures describe the processor family, not a confirmed E7 instance configuration. AMD’s EPYC 9006 specifications also list up to 256 cores and 512 threads and say model specifications are subject to change.

The companies position E7 for enterprise applications and CPU-side services around AI models. Those uses include agent orchestration, concurrent agent sandboxes, retrieval services, in-memory caches, and web and API tiers. AMD said E7 Acceleron Standard virtual machines will offer flexible compute and memory configurations, but the announcement did not identify the EPYC SKUs or memory and I/O allocations Oracle plans to use.

The networking work builds on an existing relationship. Oracle said in October 2025 that OCI had launched with AMD Pensando DPUs and that the companies were developing Pensando-powered Acceleron converged NICs.

Oracle and AMD have made performance claims for Acceleron and E7, but the supplied materials do not provide an independent benchmark for the announced E7 configuration. Readers tracking Oracle’s wider infrastructure rollout can compare the E7 plan with its separate OCI hardware expansion. Oracle’s product-direction notice says the plans are informational, not a delivery commitment, and that development, release and timing remain at Oracle’s discretion.