Google Cloud launches Agent Compute Engine for AI agents
Google Cloud introduced Agent Compute Engine, a service that runs each AI agent inside a dedicated hardware‑isolated microVM. The sandbox provides zero credentials, a read‑only root filesystem, and a short‑lived SPIFFE identity, aiming to prevent credential theft even if an agent is compromised. The service already powers Gemini as a work‑task agent and is previewed for customers in the coming…
Key points
- Each AI agent runs in a hardware‑isolated microVM with zero credentials inside.
- Agent Substrate benchmark: 500 activations/s and under 500 ms suspend/resume across 200 k agents.
- No pricing, boot‑time or preview date disclosed; preview expected in coming months.
An open‑source counterpart, Agent Substrate, is available on GKE since September 15, 2026. In a benchmark of 200,000 agents, Substrate achieved 500 activations per second with suspend/resume times under 500 ms and supported over 1,000 dormant agents per host, claiming up to ten‑fold higher compute density than traditional workloads. Idle agents are checkpointed to zero active resources and resumed on demand, reducing cost. Google also outlined four agent identities and upcoming governance previews for token management, model routing, and delegated authorization with partners such as Ping Identity, SailPoint and Saviynt.
The story so far
2 episodes →- Google Cloud launches Agent Compute Engine for AI agentsthis story
Google Cloud Launches Agent Compute Engine: A MicroVM per AI Agent
MarkTechPost · 23 October 2026
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