Meet the startup helping Wall Street put a price on AI compute

🚨 Flash Sale 🚨 Get $100 off your Disrupt 2026 ticket Save $300 on your Disrupt 2026 ticket: REGISTER NOW. TechCrunch Desktop Logo TechCrunch Mobile Logo LatestStartupsVentureAppleSecurityAIAppsDisrupt 2026 EventsPodcastsNewsletters SearchSubmit Site Search Toggle Mega Menu Toggle Topics Latest Meet the startup helping Wall Street put a price on AI compute Theresa Loconsolo 10:26 AM PDT · August 19, 2026 31 min Loading the player… var playerInstance_31544651 = jwplayer( "jwppp-video-31544651" ); playerInstance_31544651.setup({ playlist: "https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/xqUApuDZ", }) The AI buildout shows no signs of slowing. And with hundreds of billions of dollars a year going into data centers and GPUs, compute has become the single biggest cost for anyone building AI products. But for all that spending, there still isn’t a straightforward way to put a price on compute — or for firms to hedge their exposure when the price changes.  Silicon Data just closed a $30 million Series A to change that. The startup aims to become the reference price for GPU rental and an index that a Wall Street futures contract would settle against. The company plans to launch its compute futures trading on the CME October 5th, pending regulatory approval.  On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Rebecca Bellan is joined by Steve Hou, head of research at Silicon Data, to discuss the health of the AI buildout, and why the data is telling a different story than the doom and gloom headlines about depreciating chips and stalled data centers.  Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.  Theresa Loconsolo Audio Producer Theresa Loconsolo is an audio producer at TechCrunch focusing on Equity, the network’s flagship podcast. Before joining TechCrunch in 2022, she was one of 2 producers at a four-station conglomerate where she wrote, recorded, voiced and edited content, and engineered live performances and interviews from guests like lovelytheband. Theresa is based in New Jersey and holds a bachelors degree in Communication from Monmouth University. You can contact or verify outreach from Theresa by emailing theresa.loconsolo@techcrunch.com. View Bio October 13 – 15 San Francisco Scale faster. Grow your portfolio. Gain practical expertise. No matter your goal, Disrupt can empower you.Save up to $300 today! Most Popular Stripe will reportedly acquire AI gateway startup OpenRouter for $7B+ Anthony Ha Anthropic shares more details about how Claude’s new watermarks will work Anthony Ha 7 desk gadgets that can make your workday better Aisha Malik Apple proposes to take a 15% cut of purchases made outside the App Store Sarah Perez If Apple sends you a push notification alerting you to a spyware attack, take it seriously Zack Whittaker Anthropic set AI agents loose on the same task. They started a turf war. Rebecca Bellan Instagram introduces a redesigned wordmark Sarah Perez Subscribe for the industry’s biggest tech news Every weekday and Sunday, you can get the best of TechCrunch’s coverage. TechCrunch's AI experts cover the latest news in the fast-moving field. Every Monday, gets you up to speed on the latest advances in aerospace. Startups are the core of TechCrunch, so get our best coverage delivered weekly. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice. X LinkedIn Facebook Instagram youTube Mastodon Threads Bluesky TechCrunchStaffContact UsAdvertiseSite Map Terms of ServicePrivacy PolicyRSS Terms of UseCode of Conduct Made by GooglePhiaBlacksmithPixel TagDisrupt 2026Tech LayoffsChatGPT © 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC.