Special Report by Vinay Nagpal, CEO, IG Group
Interviews by Jasmine Bedi, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, InterGlobix Magazine
As artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and other high-performance computing (HPC) introduce unprecedented demands on scale, capacity, cost, and flexibility, a new form of digital infrastructure is emerging: the neocloud.
What Is a Neocloud?
A neocloud is a specialized cloud compute provider focused on delivering scalable, cost-effective, and GPU-optimized infrastructure adapted specifically for accelerating and bolstering demanding AI, ML, and HPC workloads. Unlike traditional hyperscalers, which offer a wide range of general-purpose services and are optimized for versatility, neoclouds are purpose-built for the AI era. They deliver bare-metal, faster access to the latest GPUs; lower, flat-rate, predictable pricing for GPU hours; smaller, regional data centers designed for AI workloads; and high-density GPUs, fast networking, and optimized environments for deep learning and inference.
How Do Neoclouds Work?
Rather than trying to serve every possible use case, neoclouds deploy clusters of optimized hardware—GPUs, high-speed networking, and fast storage—tailored for tasks like AI training and inference.
Accessed through application programming interfaces or web dashboards, they blend the flexibility of public cloud services with the performance and cost advantages of specialized infrastructure. Since the hardware and software stack is tightly tuned for a narrow set of workloads, neoclouds can deliver more predictable performance and simpler, often usage-based pricing. Behind the scenes, automation handles provisioning, scaling, and scheduling while the provider focuses on efficiency and reliability for that specific workload domain.
Why Do We Need Neoclouds?
As AI, ML, and HPC workloads have grown, organizations need access to specialized hardware like GPUs with predictable performance and transparent pricing. Defined by GPU-centric architecture, transparent pricing models, and rapid elasticity without waitlists or over-provisioning, neoclouds can reduce overhead, avoid resource contention, and lower costs—all of which are increasingly necessary to meet the extreme, specialized demands of high-performance computing.
Neoclouds also give customers more control and simplicity. By focusing on a narrower set of workloads, they can optimize hardware, software, and networking end-to-end, thereby making it easier to scale compute-intensive jobs without dealing with the complexity of large, general-purpose cloud platforms. This speed and flexibility makes neoclouds especially valuable for startups, researchers, and teams that need performance-optimized infrastructure and vendor diversity without hyperscaler complexity.
In this feature story, we dive into this emerging form of digital infrastructure from all sides—the neocloud providers themselves, the GPU chips that power them, the data centers transforming for neocloud-ready architecture, and the projects that bring them all together. For more insight into how neocloud providers operate and what they see for the future of AI-specialized hardware, InterGlobix Magazine Editor-in-Chief Jasmine Bedi interviews CoreWeave’s Peter Salanki, Crusoe’s Chris Dolan, and Lambda’s Ken Patchett.
Prominent Neocloud Providers - A closer look at the class of cloud providers that is redefining AI infrastructure 
The Stargate Project - Bringing together neocloud providers, data centers, hyperscalers, and more for building critical AI infrastructure 
