Author here! I worked for the computing infrastructure for a DNA sequencing facility, and I run a computational biology infrastructure company (trytoolchest.com, YC W22). Both are built on AWS, so I do think AWS in scientific computing has its use-cases – mostly in places where you can't saturate a queue or you want a fast cycle time.

Spot instances are still pretty expensive for a steady queue (2x of Hetzer monthly costs, for reference), and you still have to pay AWS data transfer egress costs – which are at least 30x more expensive than a colo or on-prem, if you're saturating a 1 Gbps link.

This post was born from frustration at AWS for their pricing and offerings after trying to get people to switch to AWS in scientific computing for years :)