CME Group and Silicon Data today announced they will launch a first-in-class compute futures market later this year, pending regulatory review.

The new futures contracts will allow traders, financial institutions, AI builders and cloud-service providers to manage volatility and price risk associated with the multi-trillion-dollar compute market.

The products will be based on Silicon Data’s indices, the world’s first daily GPU benchmarks for on-demand rental rates.

“As the backbone of the digital economy, compute is the new oil of the 21st century,” said CME Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Terry Duffy. “Every AI model trained, every transaction cleared, and every byte of data processed runs on compute, which is becoming a fast-emerging asset class in its own right. Investors need a trusted futures market to provide transparency, liquidity and effective risk management – all of which fall squarely into CME Group’s wheelhouse. We are pleased to partner with Silicon Data, the recognized pioneer in real-time GPU benchmarks, to effectively address this growing market demand.”

“Compute markets today are still highly fragmented, with pricing that can vary dramatically across providers, regions and contract structures,” said Carmen Li, Chief Executive Officer of Silicon Data. “At Silicon Data, we built our benchmarks to bring consistency, transparency and real-time visibility to GPU markets that have historically lacked standardized reference pricing. Partnering with CME Group brings the scale, market structure and credibility needed to help transform compute from an opaque operational cost into a more mature and risk-manageable financial market. The launch of compute futures is an important step toward giving AI builders, cloud providers and investors more reliable tools for valuation, hedging and long-term planning as demand for compute continues to accelerate.”

“It has been clear to me for some time that compute will become the largest commodity in the world,” said Don Wilson, Founder and CEO of DRW. “The exponential growth in spending on data centers as we move towards that reality has been hampered by the lack of a hedging vehicle. The launch of a compute futures market is an important solution to that problem that can help market participants manage price volatility and plan with greater certainty. CME Group’s expertise in building resilient, trusted derivatives markets, combined with Silicon Data’s benchmarking capabilities, creates an essential foundation for this emerging asset class.”