Futures Education Series

The Future of Compute

Understanding the shift from Petro-Dollars to Compute-Credits. Why AI hardware is the world's most valuable commodity, and how AIC is building the CME for the digital age.

The Mechanics of a Future

Just as airlines hedge against rising fuel costs by buying Oil Futures, AI companies need to hedge against rising compute costs.

Hedging Risk

Lock in a price today for delivery tomorrow. If H100 prices spike, your contract protects your margin.

Speculation & Liquidity

Traders provide liquidity by betting on price direction, ensuring the market is efficient and deep.

The New Oil Standard

Comparing the Industrial Age to the Intelligence Age

Metric

Traditional Oil

AIC Reality

Commodity

Crude Oil (WTI)

NVIDIA H100

Exchange

CME Group

AIC Exchange

Consumer

Delta Airlines

OpenAI / Meta

Producer

ExxonMobil

TSMC / CoreWeave