diff --git a/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/aws/aws_cloud_provider.go b/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/aws/aws_cloud_provider.go
index 3117b1c73654..11a3aca4e713 100644
--- a/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/aws/aws_cloud_provider.go
+++ b/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/aws/aws_cloud_provider.go
@@ -204,18 +204,26 @@ type AwsInstanceRef struct {
 	Name       string
 }
 
-var validAwsRefIdRegex = regexp.MustCompile(fmt.Sprintf(`^aws\:\/\/\/[-0-9a-z]*\/[-0-9a-z]*(\/[-0-9a-z\.]*)?$|aws\:\/\/\/[-0-9a-z]*\/%s.*$`, placeholderInstanceNamePrefix))
+var validAwsRefIdRegex = regexp.MustCompile(fmt.Sprintf(`^aws\:\/\/\/[-0-9a-z]*\/(%s.*)$|aws\:\/\/\/[-0-9a-z]*\/([-0-9a-z]*)(\/[-0-9a-z\.]*)?$`, placeholderInstanceNamePrefix))
 
 // AwsRefFromProviderId creates AwsInstanceRef object from provider id which
 // must be in format: aws:///zone/name
 func AwsRefFromProviderId(id string) (*AwsInstanceRef, error) {
-	if validAwsRefIdRegex.FindStringSubmatch(id) == nil {
+	matches := validAwsRefIdRegex.FindStringSubmatch(id)
+	if matches == nil || len(matches) != 4 {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("wrong id: expected format aws:///<zone>/<name>, got %v", id)
 	}
-	splitted := strings.Split(id[7:], "/")
+
+	var name string
+	if strings.Contains(id, placeholderInstanceNamePrefix) {
+		name = matches[1]
+	} else {
+		name = matches[2]
+	}
+
 	return &AwsInstanceRef{
 		ProviderID: id,
-		Name:       splitted[1],
+		Name:       name,
 	}, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/aws/aws_cloud_provider_test.go b/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/aws/aws_cloud_provider_test.go
index 1910f8752fd5..1f843d8af8be 100644
--- a/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/aws/aws_cloud_provider_test.go
+++ b/cluster-autoscaler/cloudprovider/aws/aws_cloud_provider_test.go
@@ -306,6 +306,15 @@ func TestAwsRefFromProviderId(t *testing.T) {
 				ProviderID: "aws:///eu-central-1c/i-placeholder-K3-EKS-spotr5xlasgsubnet02af43b02922e710f-10QH9H0C8PG7O-14",
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			// ref: https://github.com/kubernetes/autoscaler/issues/8305
+			provID: "aws:///us-east-1a/i-placeholder-some/arbitrary/cluster/local",
+			expErr: false,
+			expRef: &AwsInstanceRef{
+				Name:       "i-placeholder-some/arbitrary/cluster/local",
+				ProviderID: "aws:///us-east-1a/i-placeholder-some/arbitrary/cluster/local",
+			},
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, test := range tests {