{ "publication_date": "2026-11-03", "observation_date": "2026-11-03", "corrections": [], "correction_policy": "Append dated corrections; preserve previous versions.", "license_status": "PCT original text: unpublished, license not yet selected. Source material remains owned by its rights holders; no blanket republication permission assumed.", "id": "pct-spotlight-aws-capacity-blocks", "content_type": "product_spotlight", "title": "What a GPU reservation actually buys", "editorial_voice": "Spotlight Desk | AI-assisted, buyer-focused", "body": "A low hourly rate is useful only if the machines are there when the job needs them. Amazon EC2 Capacity Blocks for ML turn that scheduling problem into a purchasable reservation. AWS’s May 7, 2026 guide describes the product as a way to secure capacity for testing, model validation, workshops and planned inference demand. [S1]\n\nThe buyer specifies an instance type, quantity, date range and duration. Current documentation permits booking up to eight weeks ahead, with durations of one to 14 days or weekly multiples up to 182 days. The offer identifies an Availability Zone and reservation price. Once purchased, that price is fixed. [S2]\n\nThe commitment has edges. The reservation fee is charged upfront, and cancellation is prohibited. Operating-system charges can apply separately. Ordinary instance blocks begin shutting down 30 minutes before the reservation’s stated end; UltraServer blocks have a 60-minute cutoff. Extensions depend on available capacity, so an overrun needs a contingency plan. [S2][S3][S4][S5]\n\nFor a buyer, the question is whether a dependable work window outweighs the risk of paying for idle machines. A simple illustration: if only half the purchased GPU-hours are used, the reservation cost per used GPU-hour doubles. That arithmetic excludes other costs and says nothing about model throughput. Prepare data, software and checkpoints before the paid window opens.\n\nFor an agent, the purchasing record should preserve the exact instance type, accelerator count, region, Availability Zone, start time, usable end time, currency, total fee and cancellation terms. A generic “GPU-hour” field loses the conditions that make two offers comparable.\n\n**PCT reading:** Capacity Blocks show how time and delivery conditions become part of the compute product. The published rate is one supplier’s offer, not a market-wide clearing price. This review did not query live account-specific inventory or purchase a block; it establishes product mechanics, not available volume.", "research": { "id": "pct-spotlight-aws-capacity-blocks", "title": "What a GPU reservation actually buys", "section": "Product spotlight", "publisher": "Peterson Compute Trading", "as_of_date": "2026-11-03", "status": "desk_research", "editorial_word_count": 298, "facts": [ { "id": "F1", "claim": "AWS published the cited short-term GPU capacity guide on May 7, 2026.", "source_ids": [ "S1" ], "evidence_type": "dated_primary_publication" }, { "id": "F2", "claim": "Capacity Block offers specify hardware type, quantity, start time, Availability Zone and reservation price.", "source_ids": [ "S2" ], "evidence_type": "current_vendor_documentation" }, { "id": "F3", "claim": "Reservations can start up to eight weeks in advance. Durations are one to 14 days or multiples of seven days up to 182 days.", "source_ids": [ "S2" ], "evidence_type": "current_vendor_documentation" }, { "id": "F4", "claim": "The reservation price is charged upfront and does not change after booking; operating-system charges can apply separately.", "source_ids": [ "S3" ], "evidence_type": "current_vendor_documentation" }, { "id": "F5", "claim": "Capacity Block cancellation is not allowed.", "source_ids": [ "S4" ], "evidence_type": "current_vendor_documentation" }, { "id": "F6", "claim": "Instance termination starts 30 minutes before block expiry for instance types, or 60 minutes before expiry for UltraServer types.", "source_ids": [ "S2" ], "evidence_type": "current_vendor_documentation" }, { "id": "F7", "claim": "Extensions require sufficient available capacity and are not guaranteed.", "source_ids": [ "S5" ], "evidence_type": "current_vendor_documentation" }, { "id": "F8", "claim": "Savings Plans and Reserved Instance discounts do not apply to Capacity Blocks.", "source_ids": [ "S3" ], "evidence_type": "current_vendor_documentation" } ], "inferences": [ { "id": "I1", "claim": "Buyers trade scheduling certainty against utilization risk.", "basis_fact_ids": [ "F2", "F4", "F5" ], "label": "PCT analysis" }, { "id": "I2", "claim": "At 50% purchased-hour utilization, reservation-only cost per used GPU-hour is twice the nominal reservation rate.", "basis_fact_ids": [ "F4" ], "label": "hypothetical arithmetic", "assumptions": [ "Fixed prepaid reservation cost.", "All purchased accelerator-hours are equivalent within the example.", "Half of purchased accelerator-hours are used.", "Other charges and workload throughput differences are excluded." ] }, { "id": "I3", "claim": "Compute offer comparisons should retain date, region, hardware, quantity, usable duration and commercial conditions rather than only price per GPU-hour.", "basis_fact_ids": [ "F2", "F3", "F4", "F5", "F6" ], "label": "PCT buyer guidance" } ], "limits": [ "No interviews were conducted.", "No authenticated account-specific offering or inventory query was performed.", "No purchase was performed.", "No independently traded contract, secondary-market transaction, market-wide clearing price, liquidity measure or transaction volume was established.", "Documentation is current as read on November 3, 2026, not a frozen historical contract. Exact offer terms and availability must be checked before buying.", "AWS general FAQ says blocks cannot be modified, but current extension documentation permits extensions subject to capacity. Avoid the blanket claim that a block can never be extended." ], "suggested_agent_fields": [ "instance_type", "accelerator_model", "accelerator_count", "instance_count", "region", "availability_zone", "reservation_start_utc", "reservation_end_utc", "usable_end_utc", "currency", "total_reservation_fee", "separate_os_fees", "cancellation_policy", "extension_availability", "source_url", "retrieved_at" ] }, "sources": [ { "id": "S1", "title": "Secure short-term GPU capacity for ML workloads with EC2 Capacity Blocks for ML and SageMaker training plans", "publisher": "AWS", "published_at": "2026-05-07", "retrieved_at": "2026-11-03", "url": "https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/machine-learning/secure-short-term-gpu-capacity-for-ml-workloads-with-ec2-capacity-blocks-for-ml-and-sagemaker-training-plans/" }, { "id": "S2", "title": "How Amazon EC2 Capacity Blocks work", "publisher": "AWS", "published_at": null, "retrieved_at": "2026-11-03", "url": "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/capacity-blocks-how.html" }, { "id": "S3", "title": "Capacity Blocks pricing and billing", "publisher": "AWS", "published_at": null, "retrieved_at": "2026-11-03", "url": "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/capacity-blocks-pricing-billing.html" }, { "id": "S4", "title": "Capacity Blocks for ML", "publisher": "AWS", "published_at": null, "retrieved_at": "2026-11-03", "url": "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ec2-capacity-blocks.html" }, { "id": "S5", "title": "Extend Capacity Blocks", "publisher": "AWS", "published_at": null, "retrieved_at": "2026-11-03", "url": "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/capacity-blocks-extend.html" } ], "public_projection": { "version": "1.0.0", "date": "2026-11-10", "changes": [ "Internal workspace artifact paths omitted where present. Historical license/status fields retain original provenance; current public reuse policy is stated separately." ], "rights": "PCT reserves rights in original editorial content; third-party rights retained. No general source-data reuse license." } }