Cloud Functions scale to zero when idle. When invoked after inactivity, they undergo a "cold start," initializing runtime, loading dependencies, and establishing any required network connections (e.g., VPC connectors). These cold starts can dramatically increase execution time, especially for functions with: * High memory allocations * Heavy initialization logic * VPC connector requirements If cold starts are frequent, customers may be paying for unnecessary compute time — particularly in latency-sensitive workloads — without receiving proportional value.