that's because cloud networks are complete shit

this is xilinux/mellanox cards with kernel bypass and cut-through switches with busy-waiting

in reality, in a prod system

Both Azure and AWS have kernel-bypass, and they use 100 to 200 Gbps NICs that are either bespoke silicon or have onboard FPGAs for offloading various things such as encryption and packet header rewrites.

I wouldn't rate them as "complete shit".