Presented herein are techniques to conserve power by network devices in a software define wide area network (SDWAN). A method includes monitoring operations of a software defined wide area network including a network device in the software defined wide area network, based on results of the monitoring, generating a usage model for the network device, determining, based on the usage model, a power management scheme for a multi-core network processing unit operating on the network device, and causing the multi-core network processing unit operating on the network device to execute the power management scheme.