Nanhua Futures: China developing its own computing power futures market has strategic significance beyond purely economic value.

South China Futures official WeChat account announced today that Cao Yanghui, Manager of the South China Futures Index Development Department, wrote an article titled "Power of Calculation has 'Term': China's Digital Economy urgently needs to fill in the financial puzzle", pointing out that on May 12th, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group announced plans to launch the world's first global computing power futures contract within the year. This means that computing power will no longer be simply an IT service attribute, but will be upgraded to a standardized bulk commodity on par with crude oil, gold, and agricultural products, becoming a financial product that can be publicly traded, hedged against risks, and fairly priced. The establishment of the computing power futures market is not only an innovation in financial technology, but also a key strategic move for major countries to compete for pricing power over strategic resources in the digital economy era. The development of its own computing power futures market by China carries national strategic significance that transcends mere economic value. This is not only an internal requirement to serve the risk management needs of the domestic AI industry, but also a necessary layout to safeguard national computing power security, master the autonomy of industrial development, participate in and even lead the formulation of global computing power financial rules. The development of computing power futures in China can stabilize the volatile fluctuations in computing power prices, safeguard the healthy development of the AI industry; compete for global computing power pricing power, protect national strategic interests; open up financing channels for computing power infrastructure, activate existing computing power assets; promote the expansion of the boundaries of futures markets to serve the real economy, and cultivate new quality productivity. From the perspective of the spot market foundation, China has the world's second-largest computing power scale, the world's second-largest AI industry ecosystem, and the computing power leasing market is rapidly growing, with an expected size of 260 billion yuan by 2026. IDC and computing power service providers are numerous, with high trading frequency and substantial capital volume, providing a market foundation for the development of futures.