AWS has expanded its support for nested virtualization, allowing it to be used on C8i, M8i, and R8i EC2 instances powered by Intel Xeon 6 processors. This promotes a broader range of use cases such as testing complex multi-VM environments, running containerized workloads, and developing mobile applications with emulators, along with using Windows Subsystem for Linux on cloud-based Windows workstations.
Previously limited to bare metal instances, this enhancement on virtual EC2 instances means that AWS clients can now implement KVM or Hyper-V inside these virtualized instances, unlocking the potential for more intricate and sophisticated applications, such as automotive hardware simulation. This capability is built on AWS’s Nitro hypervisor as the foundational layer (L0), enabling guest hypervisors (L1) such as Hyper-V and KVM, which may host additional virtual machines (L2).
By offering this functionality, AWS aligns with other major cloud providers like Azure and Google Cloud. The feature is now widely accessible across all commercial AWS regions, offering flexibility and innovation for developers and enterprises seeking to leverage the power of cloud-based nested virtualization.

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AWS now supports nested virtualization on C8i, M8i, and R8i EC2 instances with Intel Xeon 6 processors, previously only available on bare metal instances. This enables running KVM or Hyper-V inside virtual instances, supporting use cases like multi-VM testing, containerized workloads, mobile app development with emulators, and automotive hardware simulation. Built on AWS's Nitro hypervisor, the feature is available across all commercial AWS regions.

AWS Introduces Nested Virtualization for EC2 Instances