Architect

Announcing ComputeConnect, the financial industry’s first exchange-for-physical (EFP) network for compute, coming soon from Architect and Compute Desk. ComputeConnect links US exchange-traded compute futures to compute capacity delivery. Exchange-listed cash-settled compute futures are entering US markets to correct course on the current AI economy, reorienting debt to long-term growth: • Creating price discovery and transparency independent of any single capacity provider. • Establishing a forward curve for measuring deprecation and forecasting supply and demand. • Providing financial hedges for compute consumers and producers. • Enabling hedge funds, ETF companies, and traders to gain long and short financial exposure to compute. US cash-settled compute futures lack a physical delivery mechanism, and ComputeConnect fills this gap. Existing physically settled futures such as energy and agriculturals require their clearing house (DCO) to set a uniform standard for the grade and delivery method for the underlying commodity. Compute, by contrast, is highly fragmented, heterogeneous, and rapidly evolving, making it infeasible for any single DCO to define and enforce comparable standards. ComputeConnect establishes a network of compute capacity providers and links the network with Architect’s US futures products using exchange-for-physicals (EFPs), OTC contracts in which futures positions are exchanged for the assets the futures track. EFPs allow counterparties to negotiate the grade, timing, location, and other characteristics of the commodity along with a basis tied to the futures settlement price. ComputeConnect will • Build a network of capacity providers and capacity marketplaces. • Establish an open protocol for members of the network to receive delivery requests and advertise available GPUs. • Publish standard basis tables for different SKUs, memory configurations, and locations for GPUs. • Book the futures legs of the transactions to Architect’s DCM, the American Innovation Exchange. • Facilitate and guarantee delivery of capacity using Compute Desk’s ComputeClear platform. The advancement of US AI is constrained at every link in the supply chain: materials, power, chips, capital… The American Innovation Exchange, ComputeConnect, and our industry partners aim to secure compute’s dominance as an American asset class. If you’re a neocloud company, compute marketplace, datacenter operator, or compute capacity provider, learn more about the ComputeConnect network and join our compute provider list: https://lnkd.in/gKp5xeAS . Read more about ComputeConnect in our press release: https://lnkd.in/gzmHGTVC

We frequently discuss compute trading with neoclouds, GPU-as-a-service providers, data center operators, training and inference companies, energy companies, HFTs, brokerages, investment banks, FCMs, CTAs, RIAs, ETF issuers, VCs, and others. Here's a current summary of the market structure and participants.

We’re excited to announce Architect's partnership with Pillar. We’re bringing together Pillar’s automated hedging solutions for commercial consumers of commodities and Architect’s US and international exchange-listed derivatives on AI-industry supply chain inputs. Pillar offers an automated hedging platform for corporates, covering metals, FX, power, compute, energy, and freight. Our integration will back Pillar’s trading with futures, options, and perpetuals listed on Architect’s two exchanges, the American Innovation Exchange and AX. Most commercial consumers of commodities are not yet using derivatives to hedge, and are therefore exposed to price volatility while their materials remain in inventory. There is a steep learning curve for non-financial firms to manage basis risk and options greeks. Pillar’s platform solves this by translating commodity inventory entries into derivatives execution decisions. Architect’s novel exchange-listed derivatives and AI agent-compatible APIs enhance Pillar’s ability to hedge efficiently on behalf of their customers. Rare earth metals, EM currencies, freight costs, and power prices that commercial hedgers are exposed to lack liquid, centrally cleared futures products. We look forward to building transformative derivatives for industrials with Harsha Ramesh, Chinmay Deshpande, and the Pillar team.

Copper and aluminum perpetual futures are listed on Architect's AX Exchange. Industrial users of copper and aluminum can now hedge their inventory with regulated derivatives built for institutions. Small contract size, continuous exposure, margin efficiency, no expiry, no auto-liquidation. Commodities markets onshore and offshore need to keep pace with the industries they exist to support. We’re building with the imminent goal of repatriating key AI industry derivatives on the American Innovation Exchange.

The term “AI capex/opex basket” refers to the financialization of GPUs, materials, and energy sources necessary to build and operate a datacenter. Of the various base, precious, and rare-earth metals in the basket, silver has outsized and under-discussed effects on compute costs. Hedge silver costs or trade silver with better margin, lower fees, and smaller contract size on the American Innovation Exchange. Coming soon.

Compute futures indexes need to be broad enough to capture private cloud transactions but narrow enough to minimize basis risk for datacenter hedging. Architect's Nvidia H100, H200, B200, and B300 futures will offer the best of both worlds on the American Innovation Exchange.

The largest US futures exchanges require a six-figure minimum annual payment in market data fees, API fees, and data distribution fees to trade. Why? It’s time to move forward. Trade futures on the American Innovation Exchange with direct access and no market data or API fees. Coming soon from Architect. Sign up to trade futures and options on AI compute, capex, and opex. https://architect.co