The Internet Computer ($ICP) marked five years of continuous mainnet operation on May 10, with DFINITY founder Dominic Williams (@dominic_w) using the anniversary to unveil Cloud Engines, a sovereign cloud framework that pushes the network deeper into the AI agent space.

The reveal coincided with a notable on-chain surge. Chainspect data flagged by @chainspect_app showed average ICP transaction fees hitting a 90-day low while daily transactions pushed past 335 million on May 8.

What is Cloud Engines?

@dfinity is framing Cloud Engines as the next phase of the Internet Computer protocol. In his May 10 post, Williams laid out the pitch directly:

"After years of continuous development, which have seen more than $500m spent on R&D, the Internet Computer network is now tacking directly toward this mainstream cloud market with cloud engine technology."

The target is the trillion-plus annual cloud market by 2030, a pivot that moves ICP beyond standard layer 1 talking points.

The framework lets any builder spin up a sovereign cloud by configuring nodes, including operator, location, hardware class, and even Big Tech instances from AWS or Azure. Apps and services run inside the ICP protocol, which Williams says removes the need for constant infrastructure admin teams. The runtime is also pitched as tamperproof and immune to standard infrastructure attacks.

Sovereignty is the core selling point. Regions can be locked to specific jurisdictions, for example, Europe for GDPR compliance, or fully inside Switzerland or Pakistan. Nodes can be swapped without downtime, and the system handles scaling by adding nodes for queries or splitting engines for updates. Multi-chain support for stablecoins and DEXes is also part of the build, with SNS orchestration handling autonomous operation.

The Internet Computer launched in May 2021 as a smart contract platform aiming to run full applications on-chain, including frontends. DFINITY has since shifted its messaging from blockchain to world computer to sovereign cloud, a trajectory Cloud Engines now codifies.

Why the AI agent framing matters

Williams leaned heavily on AI agents in the demo. Cloud Engines is positioned to enable agents to directly build, update, and deploy apps within the network. The Motoko language, paired with orthogonal persistence, is being pitched as a safer foundation for what Williams calls a self-writing cloud, in which the runtime handles state without forcing the agent to manage it explicitly.

The longer-term link is to the Internet Intelligence Gateway, which DFINITY has flagged as the path toward on-chain verifiable AI inference. Sovereign AI nodes and upcoming blob storage round out the developer-facing roadmap.

A full Cloud Engine demo video was uploaded by Williams on May 10 alongside the X post.

On-chain metrics back the narrative

The anniversary timing lined up with strong network data.

The average ICP transaction fee dropped to roughly $0.0000465, a 90-day low. Daily transactions crossed 335 million on May 8. Recent financial dashboards have shown averages near $0.00004334.

Real-time throughput numbers also stood out. ICP has been holding the top spot on Chainspect's real-time TPS chart, with snapshots showing 3,800 to 3,959 transactions per second and peaks above 25,000 max TPS in recent observations.

The fee structure ties directly into the cloud pitch. Williams has long argued that traditional smart contract chains cannot host serious cloud workloads at the gas costs seen on networks like Ethereum. ICP's reverse-gas model, where the canister pays rather than the user, is being positioned as the right shape for always-on services that Cloud Engines targets.

Market reaction

$ICP saw a clear move on the back of the announcements. The token climbed from a range of $2.65 to $3.20 into the $3.30 to $3.60 zone and above across May 10 and 11, with elevated volume.

Sentiment on X has framed Cloud Engines as the headline catalyst for the five-year milestone rather than the anniversary itself. Ecosystem accounts, including ORIGYN, were quick to congratulate DFINITY Foundation and Dominic Williams, calling the move a shift toward sovereign AI-native infrastructure. @DFINITYDev has been pushing technical deep-dives in parallel.

Where ICP goes next

The Cloud Engines reveal is the clearest signal yet that DFINITY wants to compete outside the standard layer 1 framing. The team has been describing $ICP as a cloud rather than a blockchain for some time, but the new framework gives that pitch concrete tooling.

The test now is adoption. The pieces are in place though, with fees at lows, throughput at highs, and a framework built for the AI agent era. Year six starts with the strongest hand DFINITY has played yet. 

Sources:

Dominic Williams anniversary post - Full Cloud Engines reveal with embedded demo video, posted May 10.

DFINITY Foundation - Main official X account for the Internet Computer.

Chainspect ICP dashboard - Live on-chain metrics for fees, TPS, and transaction counts.

Internet Computer - Official site with ecosystem and protocol documentation.