Wall Street Races to Launch AI Compute Futures Within 1 Year of Trump Push

2 articles · Updated · POLITICO · Jul 6

Exchanges, banks and trading firms are moving to launch futures tied to AI computing power this year, aiming to let startups, tech giants and investors hedge swings in model-training and inference costs.
CME Group is partnering with Silicon Data on one planned market, while ICE and other venues are also pursuing contracts as finance executives pitch compute as a commodity akin to oil.
Trump administration backing has accelerated the effort: the White House called for improving compute markets nearly 1 year ago, and the CFTC now says helping those markets flourish is a top priority.
Standardization remains the main obstacle because compute is less fungible than crude oil or soybeans, complicating the creation of benchmark contracts and price discovery.
BlackRock, NYSE parent ICE, DRW and retail-focused money managers are already circling the space, underscoring how AI demand is spilling from equities into a broader Wall Street trading market.