SemiAnalysis: Decline in H100 Spot Rental Prices Does Not Indicate Cooling AI Demand, Long-Term Contract Prices Continue to Rise

BlockBeats News, June 26 — Independent semiconductor and AI research institution SemiAnalysis published an article stating that the cloud index spot rental price for H100 has dropped to $2.42 per hour, down approximately 40% from its peak in May this year, sparking concerns about whether demand for AI computing power and enthusiasm for AI investment are cooling. However, spot prices primarily reflect short-term supply and demand fluctuations and do not represent the true demand trends in the AI computing power market. In stark contrast to the spot market, the price of 1-year H100 long-term rental contracts has steadily risen from approximately $1.70 per hour at the end of last year to around $2.65 per hour currently. Analysts believe that the spot and on-demand markets mainly cater to proof-of-concept (POC), one-time testing, sudden workloads, and temporary capacity expansion needs, whereas long-term contracts primarily correspond to continuous inference and model training in production environments. These contracts are the core market for stable AI enterprise deployments of computing power and thus better reflect real and sustained commercial demand. The decline in spot prices alongside the rise in long-term contract prices does not indicate weakening AI demand but rather a shift in market demand from short-term, experimental use to long-term, large-scale deployment. As more enterprises secure long-term computing power resources to support continuous operations and commercialized AI applications, long-term contract prices continue to climb. This also signifies that investments in AI infrastructure are transitioning from the experimental phase to the production phase. Click the link below to access the original article and join the Beating · Feishu AI News Channel for 24/7 global AI news and updates. [Original Link]