Google Cloud customers launching Tensor Processing Unit virtual machines now get Canonical-certified Ubuntu images by default. The change, announced May 28, 2026, covers TPU models from the v5e introduced in 2023 through the latest v6e, v5p and TPU7x variants. Upstream shift ends custom builds. Prior to this release, users on TPU v5 and v6 instances ran a modified version of Ubuntu 22.04 managed directly by Google. Hugo Huang, Canonical’s public cloud alliance director, told The Register that those instances now run Canonical-certified and supported Ubuntu 22.04 LTS releases. Compatibility with existing production setups remains intact. Migration, Huang explained, should occur without workload interruption. TPU7x instances will use Ubuntu 24.04 LTS instead. Both 22.04 and 24.04 LTS releases received testing across the three TPU generations. Customers gain flexibility to match the distribution to specific workload demands. The announcement arrived via a Canonical blog post.…