# The hyperscale blueprint: Why cloud giants prioritize VMs for Kubernetes over bare metal

DevFeed: [The hyperscale blueprint: Why cloud giants prioritize VMs for Kubernetes over bare metal](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/the-hyperscale-blueprint-why-cloud-giants-prioritize-vms-for-kubernetes-over-bare-metal-12238.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://platformengineering.org/blog/the-hyperscale-blueprint-why-cloud-giants-prioritize-vms-for-kubernetes-over-bare-metal>)

Author: Jack Wallen

Published: 2026-07-23T05:40:01Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Platform Engineering Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/platform-engineering-blog.md>)

Topics: [virtualization](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/virtualization.md>), [Kubernetes](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/kubernetes.md>), [Containers](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/containers.md>), [Scalability](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/scalability.md>), [Security](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/security.md>), [Amazon Web Services](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/aws.md>), [Nitro System](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/nitro-system.md>), [Multi-tenancy](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/multi-tenancy.md>)

Tags: [aws](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/aws.md>), [containers](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/containers.md>), [kubernetes](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/kubernetes.md>), [multi-tenancy](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/multi-tenancy.md>), [nitro-system](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/nitro-system.md>), [scalability](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/scalability.md>), [security](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/security.md>), [virtual-machines](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/virtual-machines.md>), [virtualization](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/virtualization.md>)

## AI overview

Cloud providers generally run Kubernetes and other containerized workloads on virtual machines rather than bare metal because virtualization offers security, isolation, flexibility, scalability, and near-bare-metal performance. AWS Nitro and Firecracker help reduce virtualization overhead, while bare metal remains reserved for specialized performance or hardware-access requirements.

## Source excerpt

Why do cloud giants use VMs for Kubernetes? Learn why AWS, Azure, and Google prioritize Virtual Machines for containerized workloads over bare metal, focusing on security and scalability.