Startup creates AI compute pricing tool for wall street

A startup named Silicon Data has raised $30 million in Series A funding to develop a pricing tool for AI compute, aiming to provide a reference price for GPU rentals and serve as an index for Wall Street futures contracts. The company plans to launch its compute futures trading on the CME on October 5th, pending regulatory approval. On an episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Steve Hou, head of research at Silicon Data, discussed the state of the AI buildout, highlighting that data indicates a different narrative than the prevailing doom and gloom about depreciating chips and stalled data centers. The AI industry continues to see massive investment, with hundreds of billions of dollars annually allocated to data centers and GPUs, making compute the largest cost for AI product development. Despite this spending, there remains no straightforward method to price compute or hedge against price fluctuations. The article also mentions other tech news, including Stripe’s reported $7 billion acquisition of OpenRouter, details on Anthropic’s new Claude watermarking system, and updates on Apple’s App Store policies and Instagram’s redesigned wordmark. Additionally, a flash sale is promoted for Disrupt 2026 tickets, offering up to $300 in savings.