Running confidential workloads in the cloud means protecting your most sensitive data—healthcare records, financial transactions, or crypto keys—while your apps are running. But picking between public and private cloud for these high-stakes setups isn’t simple. It comes down to control, compliance, and trust.
If you’re running workloads where data control, regulatory compliance, and security isolation can’t be compromised, the infrastructure you pick can make or break your security. Public cloud providers promise confidential computing features, but recent research shows big gaps between their marketing and what actually happens.
What Makes a Workload “Confidential”?
Confidential workloads need protection not just when data sits in storage or moves between systems, but while it’s actually being used. These include:
- Blockchain validators and multi-party computation platforms that handle crypto operations and consensus systems
- Healthcare systems processing patient data under HIPAA rules
- Financial trading platforms managing sensitive transaction data and regulatory compliance under frameworks like FINRA
- Government and defense apps that need data control and classified processing
The main challenge is keeping things confidential even from privileged users—including your own system admins, cloud provider staff, and potentially malicious hypervisor-level access.
Why Public Cloud Confidential Computing Falls Short
Public cloud providers market confidential computing as the solution for sensitive workloads. They offer Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) like Intel TDX and AMD SEV-SNP to create hardware-isolated virtual machines. But recent academic research shows big flaws in how these systems actually work.
A detailed study published in March 2025 found that all major cloud providers keep control over important parts of the trusted software and interfere with standard security verification [1]. This goes against the basic rule of confidential computing, which says cloud providers shouldn’t be part of the trusted group.
Here’s what’s really happening behind the scenes:
- Security Verification Problems: Public cloud providers act as gatekeepers for checking if your secure environment is actually secure. This means they could potentially change the very proof you use to trust your setup.
- Shared Hardware Risks: Even with secure zones, you’re still using the same physical computers as other customers. This creates chances for attacks and inconsistent performance.
- No Hardware Control: You can’t control firmware versions, hypervisor settings, or hardware-level security options that directly affect your confidential work.
- Stuck with Vendor Security: Your security depends entirely on trusting the cloud provider’s version of confidential computing, rather than hardware you actually control.
Security experts point out that shared tenant setups need strict separation to prevent one customer from affecting another, but public clouds often struggle with wrong settings like open storage or bad permission rules. When your work’s privacy depends on perfect setup, shared responsibility becomes a problem.
How Private Cloud Infrastructure Changes the Security Equation
Private cloud infrastructure fixes the basic trust problem by giving you complete control over everything—from hardware firmware to hypervisor setup. Here’s why this matters for confidential work:
Hardware Isolation and Control
OpenMetal provides Hosted Private Clouds and Bare Metal infrastructure where your workloads run on dedicated hardware with no shared users. This means:
- Direct firmware and BIOS control for setting up hardware-level security policies
- Dedicated CPU and memory resources that get rid of noisy neighbor effects and side-channel risks
- Custom network separation to isolate confidential workloads from any outside traffic
- Full visibility into the hardware supply chain and verification of hardware proof
Clear Security Verification Without Outside Dependencies
Unlike public cloud setups where providers control verification processes, OpenMetal’s infrastructure supports direct hardware verification through Intel TDX and AMD SEV-SNP without middle-man trust relationships. Your applications can check hardware state directly, removing the cloud provider from the verification chain completely.
Compliance-Ready Architecture
Several OpenMetal customers have moved from public clouds specifically to meet regulatory requirements that demand clear, auditable infrastructure. Private cloud setups make compliance audits easier for frameworks like HIPAA, GDPR, and FINRA because:
- Data control is guaranteed—your data never leaves hardware you control
- Audit trails are complete since you have full visibility into every system part
- Compliance controls are customizable rather than depending on vendor-provided settings
Real-World Performance and Security Benefits
OpenMetal customers running confidential workloads report clear advantages over their previous public cloud setups:
Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Infrastructure
Validator nodes and sequencer operations benefit from the predictable latency and dedicated networking that bare metal provides. Unlike public cloud VMs that share network interfaces, OpenMetal’s infrastructure provides consistent speed for consensus algorithms and data availability layers.
Healthcare and Financial Data Processing
Companies processing sensitive personal information gain end-to-end encryption with hardware-backed key management. OpenMetal’s Hosted Private Clouds support advanced security features like encrypted volumes and tenant-aware monitoring, all running on infrastructure where you control the entire security setup.
Multi-Party Computation Platforms
Crypto workloads that need GPU acceleration for zero-knowledge proofs benefit from direct hardware access without virtualization overhead. OpenMetal’s infrastructure supports GPU passthrough for TEE environments, giving you secure computation that public cloud confidential computing can’t match.
Cost and Complexity: Debunking Public Cloud Myths
Public cloud providers claim cost savings, but this story falls apart for confidential work at scale. Research from Andreessen Horowitz shows that running at scale can at least double your infrastructure costs in public cloud compared to private options.
For confidential work specifically, the hidden costs include:
- Premium pricing for confidential computing instances that often cost 2-3x standard VMs
- Data transfer fees for moving sensitive data between regions or availability zones
- Compliance overhead from complex shared responsibility models that need additional security tools
- Performance unpredictability that forces over-provisioning to maintain service levels
OpenMetal’s private cloud model turns these costs into predictable monthly expenses while providing dedicated resources that get rid of waste from multi-tenant sharing. When you rent a VM in public cloud, you pay for resources that only get used 30% of the time on average, with roughly 40% waste. Private cloud lets your resources move between workloads at no extra cost.
Architecture Comparison: Private vs. Public for Confidential Workloads
Security Aspect | Public Cloud Confidential Computing | OpenMetal Private Cloud |
| Hardware Control | Shared infrastructure, limited firmware access | Dedicated hardware, full firmware control |
| Attestation | Provider-mediated, potential intervention | Direct hardware attestation, no intermediaries |
| Data Sovereignty | Multi-region, complex compliance | Single-tenant, guaranteed location control |
| Network Isolation | Virtual networks, shared physical infrastructure | Physical network isolation, custom segmentation |
| Hypervisor Trust | Cloud provider controlled | Customer controlled or eliminated (bare metal) |
| Performance Consistency | Variable due to multi-tenancy | Predictable, dedicated resources |
| Compliance Auditing | Shared responsibility complexity | Full-stack visibility and control |
OpenMetal’s Confidential Computing Advantage
OpenMetal’s infrastructure is specifically designed for workloads where confidentiality, compliance, and data sovereignty are business-critical. Here’s what sets our approach apart:
Intel TDX-Enabled Infrastructure
Our Hosted Private Clouds support Intel TDX (Trusted Domain Extensions) with full customer control over the trusted computing base. Unlike public cloud implementations where providers maintain control over critical trust components, OpenMetal gives you direct access to hardware attestation and encrypted memory protection.
OpenStack-Powered Flexibility
Provisioned on dedicated hardware and powered by OpenStack, our private clouds combine the flexibility of public cloud APIs with the security of dedicated infrastructure. You get native support for confidential computing workloads with advanced features like encrypted volumes and tenant-aware monitoring—all running on hardware you control.
Compliance-First Design
Our infrastructure eliminates the shared responsibility complexity that complicates public cloud compliance. With OpenMetal, you get:
- Transparent hardware supply chain with verified component attestation
- Dedicated storage clusters using Ceph for high-availability data protection
- Network isolation that meets the strictest regulatory requirements
- Full audit visibility into every component of your infrastructure stack
When Private Cloud is the Right Choice for Confidential Workloads
Consider OpenMetal’s private cloud infrastructure when:
- Regulatory compliance requires demonstrable control over the entire infrastructure stack
- Data sovereignty mandates that sensitive information never leaves specific geographic boundaries
- Performance predictability is necessary for real-time cryptographic operations or consensus algorithms
- Trust models cannot accommodate third-party control over attestation or security validation
- Cost optimization becomes important as your confidential computing needs scale beyond small pilot projects
Recent research confirms that confidential computing promises in public cloud setups often don’t match what users expect. For companies where “good enough” security isn’t sufficient, private cloud infrastructure provides the transparency and control that confidential work actually needs.
Moving Forward with Confidence
Confidential work represents your company’s most sensitive and valuable data processing needs. While public cloud marketing promises confidential computing solutions, the reality of shared infrastructure, provider-controlled verification, and complex trust models creates gaps that private cloud infrastructure can fill.
OpenMetal’s approach removes the cloud provider from your trust model completely. With dedicated hardware, clear verification, and full-stack control, you get confidential computing that actually delivers on its security promises.
If your work requires real confidentiality—not just marketing claims—let’s discuss how OpenMetal’s private cloud infrastructure can provide the security, compliance, and performance your company needs.
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