Definition
Financial contracts that let companies lock in a price today for AI computing power (such as GPU rental capacity) they'll need in the future, similar to how airlines hedge fuel costs. US regulators are now writing the first rules for trading these contracts because computing capacity has become a scarce, volatile commodity that AI-dependent businesses need to manage risk around.
Why it matters
As GPU shortages and price swings become a major business risk for any AI-dependent company, boards will increasingly be asked to approve hedging strategies for compute costs the same way they approve hedges for currency or energy.