Vultr, a cloud infrastructure provider, deployed Nvidia A16 GPUs to expand its virtualized desktop and AI services.

Privately-held cloud computing company Vultr has announced the addition of Nvidia's A16 GPU to its product offerings, introducing virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) instances to its customer base. The Nvidia A16 is a purpose-built GPU designed specifically for graphics-rich VDI, delivering a user experience that is nearly indistinguishable from a native PC for remote workers. The A16 joins the A100 and A40 in Vultr's existing GPU lineup.

Vultr has differentiated itself from other cloud service providers through its emphasis on GPU offerings and its use of Multi-Instance GPU, or MIG, features of the A100, which allows for partitioning the GPU into seven virtual GPUs. Through this partitioning similar to hypervisors for CPUs, Vultr offers fractional A100 GPU instances to customers for less than competitors offering similar services. The company provides a full range of cloud compute, cloud GPU, storage, bare metal, managed databases, Kubernetes, and other cloud-native services powered by GPUs.

J.J. Kardwell, CEO of Vultr's parent company, Constant, explained the significance of the A16: "Obviously VDI has been around for a while. And if you asked why don't more companies use it, frankly, [VDIs] were often not great experiences because they were lagging." He continued: "And now you could have that same experience that's essentially indistinguishable from having a native PC in front of you. So this is a fantastic product from Nvidia purpose built to support VDI, and this is bringing accelerated computing, right GPU capability to that market." Kardwell noted that an end-user could potentially access a virtual desktop that is more powerful than the physical computer they're using to access it.

The A16 is primarily designed for general office use, including browsing, Microsoft Word and Excel, and presentations, with pricing starting at $21.50 per month or $0.032 per hour. For more demanding applications like AutoCAD, users can opt for VDI services with A40 acceleration. Kardwell emphasized the flexibility: "If all you want is basic applications like Excel and browsing the web, you could use the smallest instance and have an accelerated computing experience. And if you are running applications that have more memory needs or more horsepower, you could buy a larger instance to optimize for the exact amount that gives you the experience you want."

Nvidia A16 VDI instances are currently available through eight of Vultr's data centers—Los Angeles, New Jersey, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Bangalore, Singapore, and Sydney—with more to be added later in 2026. Vultr addresses latency concerns through its global presence of 30 data centers worldwide, ensuring that clients are served by the data center physically closest to them. In addition to individual desktops, Vultr offers shared virtual desktop instances where multiple users in different locations can access the same desktop simultaneously to collaborate.