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It’s been a few weeks since I took on a dual role — continuing to lead Silicon Data, and now also heading Compute Exchange. Since then, I’ve been speaking with AI teams at every stage — from seed-stage startups just coming off their Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud credits, to large enterprise ML groups managing global clusters. No matter the size, the pattern is the same. The deeper a company scales, the less optionality they have. At first, teams are just grateful to secure capacity. But that relief often turns into friction: - Multi-year contracts that can’t adapt to changing workloads. - “Expansion” terms that somehow get worse instead of better. - Pre-payments without delivery guarantees. - Limited access to new GPU shapes unless new commitments are signed.What starts as convenience quietly becomes dependency. At first, it feels like stability — but over time, it erodes flexibility, the one thing every fast-moving AI team relies on. Vendor lock-in isn’t just a procurement quirk; it’s an innovation tax. It slows iteration, narrows hardware diversity, and keeps even the most capable teams from experimenting freely. What’s striking is how often this story repeats — whether it’s a small startup finishing its cloud credits or a large AI lab trying to diversify capacity. It’s a quiet inefficiency shaping how this entire market evolves. If you’ve recently scaled beyond free credits — how are you thinking about optionality? Do you design your workloads for portability, or accept lock-in as a tradeoff for short-term stability? I’m curious how your teams are navigating it.

AI startups: Need compute? Free cloud credits expiring? Arm yourself with up-to-date market data BEFORE negotiating with hyperscalers & neoclouds. Get the latest GPU pricing on the Compute Calculator. Check prices now!

AI startups: Need compute? Free cloud credits expiring? Arm yourself with up-to-date market data BEFORE negotiating with hyperscalers & neoclouds. Get the latest GPU pricing on the Compute Calculator. Click below to learn how much money your company can save!

Discover the "GPU Compute Calculator" by Compute Exchange for smarter research on pricing for high-performance GPUs for your AI workloads. Click to see how much you can save!

Discover competitive GPU pricing with the GPU Compute Calculator, your key to smarter AI infra procurement. Then buy compute on Compute Exchange.

Save 30% or more when purchasing your GPU compute via Compute Exchange. Check prices from hyperscalers, neoclouds, and brokers using the most accurate market data. Click to check prices now!