BlackRock CEO Larry Fink told the Milken Institute that surging compute demand could spawn an entirely new asset class. Speaking at the conference in Beverly Hills, Fink described compute as scarce enough to need its own derivatives market. He placed it alongside energy and agricultural commodities, which firms already hedge through structured futures. According to reports from Milken Institute, Fink said the country does not yet have the chips, memory, or power capacity needed for projected AI workloads, comparing raw compute to fuel and grain that markets already price through forward contracts. 'The United States is short on power, short on compute, short on chips, and short on memory,' Fink stated, emphasizing that 'There are going to be shortages in all three. That makes four things.'
The BlackRock chairman framed compute as the next major commodity for financial markets, not just a cloud service. As reported by Milken Institute, Fink suggested that institutions financing AI build-outs could hedge capacity costs the way airlines hedge fuel today. The contracts would price the megawatts and chips behind every model query, with Fink noting that the hedge would attract long-duration capital looking for tangible exposure. Brookfield CEO Bruce Flatt joined Fink onstage, with Flatt stating that 'A new asset class will be buying futures of compute' during the discussion. The financial logic for compute futures is compelling, as Fink explained that 'If access to compute is uncertain, expensive, and rationed — and if it determines which companies can train and deploy AI — then organisations will want to hedge that exposure.'
Fink also rejected the view that AI investment has formed a bubble, telling the audience that demand still outpaces supply across the entire stack. According to reports from Milken Institute, he warned that record funding rounds from cloud and chip giants may not cover global data center build-outs and even predicted a coming shortage of capital in the sector. The data backs Fink's assessment, with data center construction tripling since ChatGPT's launch to roughly $45 billion annually, yet demand continues to outpace supply. Big Tech is projected to spend approximately $655 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026 alone, an unprecedented build-out that still faces persistent shortages. Power represents the sharpest bottleneck, with datacenters now accounting for 7% of US electricity demand and utilities projecting continued double-digit growth through the end of the decade. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has highlighted that his company has AI chips sitting idle because it cannot access enough electricity, demonstrating the critical nature of power constraints.
The remarks landed as BlackRock prepared to unveil a partnership with an unnamed hyperscaler later this week, which would push the firm's $13.9 trillion balance sheet deeper into AI infrastructure. As reported by Milken Institute, the deal would move the asset manager beyond financing and into direct stakes in the physical layer. Fink declined to name the partner ahead of the formal announcement. Whether exchanges adopt compute futures will depend on how the industry defines a standard unit, with Fink's framing suggesting BlackRock sees a benchmark arriving sooner than markets currently price. The observation that compute could trade like a commodity isn't entirely new, but Fink lending it the weight of BlackRock's institutional authority is significant, as when the CEO of the world's largest asset manager says a new asset class is forming, markets listen. The partnership represents BlackRock's $12.5 billion acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners as a stepping stone to this vision, with the firm teaming up with Microsoft, Nvidia, and MGX for strategic investments.
BlackRock has enlisted big tech companies like NVIDIA and xAI to bolster its platform, with its initial funding objective set at $30 billion, which could grow to $100 billion with debt financing. As reported by Milken Institute, the firm is positioned as a crucial coordinator of the energy and computing infrastructure needed to support AI. BlackRock is converting that approach into significant acquisitions and energy alignment through its infrastructure division, Global Infrastructure Partners. The company has already made progress on a ~$40 billion acquisition of Aligned Data Centers and revealed that the partnership is expanding into energy systems required to sustain AI at scale, bringing in collaborators like GE Vernova and NextEra Energy to accelerate power generation and grid capacity. Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, added that the global expansion of AI infrastructure is expected to help economies and industries by facilitating growth, with NVIDIA's full-stack, infrastructure-powered AI factories turning data into actionable intelligence.
