Migrate your NCv3-series virtual machines by September 30, 2025

Note

The China North 3 region has an extension and a retirement date of June 30, 2026. If you're currently using the NCv3-series Azure VMs in the region, you can disregard the general NCv3-series retirement date of September 30, 2025, and continue to use the NCv3-series Azure VMs in that region until the respective extension date.  

On September 30, 2025, Microsoft Azure will retire the Standard_NC6s_v3, Standard_NC12s_v3, Standard_NC24s_v3, and Standard_NC24rs_v3 virtual machines (VMs) in NCv3-series virtual machines (VMs). To avoid any disruption to your service, we recommend that you change the VM sizing for your workloads from the current NCv3-series VMs to the newer VM series in the same NC product line.

Depending on the workload being run, regional affinity, and cost preferences, other VMs that may be migrated to from the NCv3-series VMs include NVadsA10_v5, and NCasT4_v3:

Workload Recommended SKU to Migrate to
Offline inferencing workloads where latency is not the primary concern, and there is an interest in purchasing smaller VM SKUs or reducing costs. NCasT4_v3
Graphics, visualization, or small AI workloads where optimal performance is not a priority. NVadsA10_v5

How does the retirement of the NCv3-series virtual machines affect me?

After September 30th, any remaining NCv3-series virtual machines (VMs) subscriptions will be set to a deallocated state. They'll stop working and no longer incur billing charges. NCv3 will no longer be under SLA or have support included.

Note

This retirement only impacts the virtual machine sizes in the original NCv3-series powered by NVIDIA V100 GPUs. This retirement announcement doesn't apply to NCasT4_v3, and NC_A100_v4 series virtual machines.

Steps to change VM size

  1. Choose a series and size. Refer to the above tables for Azure’s recommendation. You can also file a support request if more assistance is needed.
  2. Request quota for the new target VM).
  3. You can resize the virtual machine.

Help and support

If you have a support plan and you need technical help, create a support request.

  1. For Azure Subscription, select your subscription.
  2. For Support type, select Technical.
  3. For Service type, select Virtual Machine running Windows/Linux.
  4. For Problem type, select one suitable option that applies to you. for example, Performance.
  5. For Category, select one suitable option that applies to you. for example, Slow virtual machine.
  6. For Issue title, enter a summary of your request. for example, Assistance with resizing my VM from <VM_old_size> to <VM_new_size>.
  7. Select Next, and Next: Details + Submit.
  8. Fill in the mandatory items in Get support page and submit your request.