Amazon RDS and Aurora Expand R8gd and M8gd Instances with Optimized Reads to More Regions

AWS extends availability of database instances with local NVMe SSD storage to improve query throughput and latency.

By Adrian Cole · Editorial pseudonym · 2026-07-15 · 1 min read

AI-ASSISTED REPORTING · RETROSPECTIVE ARCHIVE

Retrospective edition: 2026-07-15. Source published: 2026-07-15. Added to this archive: 2026-11-03. This briefing was prepared later from the linked announcement; it was not published on this website on the historical edition date.

Amazon RDS launched R8gd and M8gd instance types across 12 and 6 additional regions, respectively, enabling optimized reads for Aurora PostgreSQL, RDS for PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MariaDB. Leveraging local NVMe SSDs for ephemeral storage, these instances reduce network storage load and accelerate complex queries and index rebuilds.

Optimized Reads also enhances caching by using local storage for database pages evicted from main memory buffers, improving subsequent read speed. Customers can launch these instances via AWS management tools. AWS shares throughput and price-performance improvements but independent testing metrics are not included.

Source & further reading

Amazon RDS and Aurora expand R8gd and M8gd to additional Regions ↗

Source published 2026-07-15. This report was prepared with AI assistance from the linked primary-source material. Claims and limitations should be checked against the original announcement or research.