CHICAGO, US. May 12, 2026
"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.
CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, and Silicon Data, the industry leader in GPU market intelligence and benchmarking backed by global trading firm DRW, today announced they will launch a first-in-class compute futures market later this year, pending regulatory review.
Combining the respective expertise of these market leaders, 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."
As the world's leading derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) enables clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets, optimize portfolios, and analyze data – empowering market participants worldwide to efficiently manage risk and capture opportunities. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, cryptocurrencies, energy, agricultural products and metals. The company offers futures and options on futures trading through the CME Globex platform, fixed income trading via BrokerTec and foreign exchange trading on the EBS platform. In addition, it operates one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers, CME Clearing.
CME Group, the Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Globex, and E-mini are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. CBOT and Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. BrokerTec is a trademark of BrokerTec Americas LLC and EBS is a trademark of EBS Group LTD. The S&P 500 Index is a product of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC ("S&P DJI"). "S&P®", "S&P 500®", "SPY®", "SPX®", US 500 and The 500 are trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC; Dow Jones®, DJIA® and Dow Jones Industrial Average are service and/or trademarks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. These trademarks have been licensed for use by Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Futures contracts based on the S&P 500 Index are not sponsored, endorsed, marketed, or promoted by S&P DJI, and S&P DJI makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in such products. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
DRW is a diversified trading firm with decades of experience bringing sophisticated technology and exceptional people together to operate in markets around the world. Headquartered in Chicago with offices around the globe, we trade a number of asset classes, including Fixed Income, ETFs, Equities, FX, Commodities, Cryptoassets and Energy. We are also a champion of innovation and have play a significant role in the founding of companies including Digital Asset, ErisX, Eris Innovations, Silicon Data and The Compute Exchange.
Silicon Data is the market intelligence platform for AI compute, providing the pricing, benchmarking, and financial infrastructure that underpin the industry's most critical decisions. Through real-time pricing indices, performance benchmarks, forward curves, and comprehensive market data spanning GPUs, LLM tokens, and related infrastructure, Silicon Data equips operators, investors, and enterprises with the transparency and analytical rigor required to navigate the economics of AI systems.
Alexander Solomon Report is a socio-corporate media platform of highlights on company news and industry events. The ASR TV Exposé offers higher interests and wider readership in return for mileage. For postings and publicity, email to info@alexandersolomonreport.com
