Committed capacity is cheaper per hour and cannot shrink, so the decision is a utilization break-even, not a discount. The arithmetic for where the reserved baseline should sit, why the p50 of steady demand is the target, and how on-demand, spot and capacity blocks absorb everything above it.
Updated Sep 2026 · Grounded in real AI infrastructure interview loops and written to a senior-engineer editorial bar, with every number worked and every diagram hand-built.
Committed capacity is cheaper per hour and cannot shrink, so the decision is a utilization break-even, not a discount. The arithmetic for where the reserved baseline should sit, why the p50 of steady demand is the target, and how on-demand, spot and capacity blocks absorb everything above it.
Ranked by how closely each one overlaps this question's topic, so the first card is the thing to read if the answer above moved too fast.
Scored on the break-even derivation (reserved is cheaper only above a utilization you can compute from the two prices), on sizing the reserved baseline to steady demand rather than peak, and on naming what handles the rest.
No comments yet — be the first to share your approach.
