Want to short the AI boom? Futures on chip rental prices are coming (opens the source in a new tab)
- Silicon Data, founded by former Bloomberg data executive Carmen Li, compiles indexes of Nvidia chip rental prices. CME plans cash-settled futures on them for H100 and B200 chips, running up to three years out.
- The launch slipped after the CFTC extended its review; the regulator has flagged manipulation risk and doubts that compute is standard enough to trade like a commodity.
- Rival Ornn, backed by a16z, is working with ICE on similar contracts. Silicon Data’s backers include DRW founder Don Wilson, VanEck and Jump Trading.
- 3 years
- how far ahead contracts may run
Why it matters A trusted price for compute lets AI buyers hedge their biggest cost and gives sceptics a clean way to bet against the boom.
Other side Sceptics recall dot-com bandwidth futures, which failed when a fibre glut sank prices; a market only works if its benchmark can be trusted.