H100 Futures

H100 futures are cash-settled financial contracts tied to the rental price of NVIDIA H100 GPUs. CME Group and Silicon Data are launching H100 rental index futures on October 5, 2026 on NYMEX - the first standardized financial instrument allowing market participants to hedge or take directional positions on H100 GPU compute costs.

Contract Overview

A parallel H100 futures contract is also available through ICE and Ornn, settling against the Ornn Compute Price Index (OCPI). The OCPI methodology differs from Silicon Data’s - Ornn builds its index on printed transactions rather than listed offers, and distributes via Bloomberg Terminal.

The Settlement Index: Silicon Data H100 Rental Price Index

H100 CME futures settle against the Silicon Data H100 Rental Price Index - a daily benchmark measuring the average cost to rent an NVIDIA H100 GPU from cloud providers on an on-demand basis. The index aggregates pricing data across providers including hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP, Oracle) and neoclouds (CoreWeave, Lambda, Crusoe, Nebius, RunPod, and others).

The index is published daily by Silicon Data, the index provider that CME partnered with to launch these contracts. Silicon Data’s methodology weights providers by transaction volume, applies outlier filtering, and publishes a trimmed-mean composite price expressed in USD per GPU per hour.

H100 Forward Curve: What the Market Implies

Based on pre-launch Silicon Data forward curve data, the H100 futures curve is in approximately 13% backwardation over 36 months. This means the futures price for H100 compute three years forward is approximately 13% below the current spot price.

Backwardation implies the market expects H100 rental prices to decline over the contract term. The primary driver is supply - the Blackwell generation (B200, GB200) is expanding rapidly, and H100 is being displaced at the high end of the market. As more H100 capacity comes online from second-tier neoclouds buying discounted hardware, and as enterprise demand migrates toward newer architectures, spot prices face downward pressure.

This has direct implications for how AI companies should think about H100 hedges: locking in today’s price via futures may be unnecessary if the forward curve already reflects falling costs. The hedge decision depends on the specific provider relationship, commitment terms, and budget certainty requirements of each buyer.

Who Should Pay Attention to H100 Futures

• AI training teams with large, scheduled H100 workloads over 2–6 months who want cost certainty
• GPU cloud providers (CoreWeave, Lambda, etc.) hedging revenue from long-term H100 commitments
• Private credit funds that have made GPU-backed loans using H100 clusters as collateral, and need a benchmark for residual value
• ETF portfolio managers - compute ETFs may reference GPU price indexes
• Quantitative traders arbitraging the spot-futures basis or trading the H100/B200 price spread

H100 vs. B200 Futures: Key Differences

Frequently Asked Questions

What are H100 futures?

H100 futures are cash-settled contracts tied to the Silicon Data H100 GPU Rental Price Index. They launch on CME/NYMEX on October 5, 2026 and allow institutions to hedge or speculate on H100 GPU rental costs.

What is the H100 forward curve?

Approximately 13% backwardation over 36 months, reflecting expected H100 price declines as Blackwell supply expands and displaces H100 in the market.

What exchange will H100 futures trade on?

CME Group lists H100 futures on NYMEX. ICE and Ornn are also launching H100 futures settling against the Ornn Compute Price Index, distributed on Bloomberg Terminal.