Can AI Compute Become The Next Big Futures Market?

Posted on 06/16/2026
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For decades, companies have turned to futures markets to manage uncertainty. Airlines hedge fuel costs. Farmers hedge crops. Manufacturers hedge metals. Now a startup wants to bring that same financial machinery to artificial intelligence. Silicon Data and CME Group are working on futures contracts tied to GPU rental prices, a market that could help firms hedge rising AI infrastructure, cloud computing and data center costs. AI companies spend heavily to rent high-end GPU power for training and running artificial intelligence models, but future compute prices can be hard to predict.  CNBC's Yun Li reports.

Chapters:
0:00-54:00 Introduction
00:55-03:16 Chapter 1: Computing Costs
03:17-05:27 Chapter 2: Demand
05:28-07:21 Chapter 3: Setting a Benchmark

Reporter: Yun Li
Produced and Shot by: Charlotte Morabito
Camera by: Natalie Rice
Edited by: Andrea Miller
Animation: Christina Locopo, Alisa Stern
Additional Editing: Valentina Duarte, Macklin Fishman
Additional Production: Christian Nunley
Senior Managing Producer: Shawn Baldwin
Additional Footage: Getty Images

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Can AI Compute Become The Next Big Futures Market?