CME Group, a leading global derivatives marketplace, and Google Cloud have marked a significant milestone in their collaboration. They announced plans to establish a new private Google Cloud region and a co-location facility in Aurora, Illinois. This strategic move is set to revolutionize the trading landscape for CME Group’s futures and options markets. The initiative underscores CME Group’s commitment to partnering with tech companies to leverage cutting-edge technology for the benefit of its global clientele.
This private Google Cloud region will host an industry-first specialized platform tailored for the demands of global trading in CME Group’s markets. It will offer derivatives traders cloud-based solutions featuring ultra-low-latency networking and high-performance computing capabilities. By situating this platform near Chicago, a major financial hub, CME Group ensures its clients can maintain their existing connectivity while tapping into other key global markets. Clients will have the flexibility to choose between utilizing self-managed infrastructure within the co-location facility or opting for Google Cloud’s specialized infrastructure-as-a-service, both promising equal network latency to the exchange.
The new platform is designed to bring numerous advantages to CME Group’s partners and clients. These benefits include greater flexibility in deploying and managing trading strategies, enhanced operational efficiencies, and broader access to advanced cloud services, including powerful Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. This technological upgrade is poised to significantly enhance the value proposition for market participants worldwide. For instance, CME Group’s clients will gain the agility to rapidly experiment with, test, and implement new trading strategies without disrupting their live trading environments. This capability to innovate swiftly is crucial in the fast-paced world of modern finance.
Terry Duffy, Chairman and CEO of CME Group, highlighted the transformative nature of this partnership: “This is a significant step forward in our partnership with Google Cloud that is revolutionizing our industry. Located within close proximity to our current data center campus, and with disaster recovery facilities in Dallas, Texas, Google Cloud’s new specialized platform will extend the benefits we can provide to our clients through next-generation cloud technology, expanded access and efficiencies, a broader range of customized connectivity options, and faster product development, with minimal disruption to their current operations.” His statement emphasizes the strategic importance of partnering with leading tech companies like Google Cloud to drive innovation and improve service delivery in the financial markets.
Beyond the immediate advantages of the new platform, clients who transition to this cloud environment can capitalize on Google Cloud’s extensive global network and its pioneering AI and data analytics capabilities. Google Cloud’s suite of data products, such as BigQuery and AlloyDB, along with its AI and machine learning platform, Vertex AI, will empower financial institutions to explore sophisticated modeling techniques like time-series forecasting and simplify the extraction of valuable insights through generative AI. These advanced tools, underpinned by Google Cloud’s expanding global infrastructure and robust AI-powered security, represent a significant leap forward for CME Group’s technology partners and clients.
Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the broader impact of this collaboration: “Our latest milestone with CME Group builds on our shared goal to accelerate CME’s move to the cloud and innovate capital markets infrastructure worldwide. Through our collaboration, we’re harnessing the best of cloud computing, data analytics, and AI, while respecting the existing custom hardware requirements of market participants to bring low latency, deterministic, and scalable trading environments to CME Group customers and the broader financial markets.” This underscores the mutual vision of CME Group and its tech partners to push the boundaries of what’s possible in capital markets through technology.
The development of this specialized platform is already underway, with key functionalities being made available for client testing in the Dallas Google Cloud region, which will serve as the disaster recovery site. Construction of the private Google Cloud region in Aurora is slated to commence this year. CME Group has committed to providing clients with at least 18 months’ advance notice before any markets are migrated to the new platform. It’s important to note that CME Group’s cash markets will continue to operate in their current facilities without immediate changes.
Since the inception of their partnership in 2021, CME Group and Google Cloud have consistently advanced key initiatives. These include significant enhancements to CME Group’s cloud-based data platform and the migration of critical clearing applications to the cloud. Both organizations remain focused on delivering substantial benefits to all market participants by broadening access, creating real-time, customer-centric data and analytics capabilities, introducing innovative products and services, and boosting overall efficiencies. This ongoing collaboration exemplifies how CME Group partners with tech companies to stay at the forefront of market innovation and client service.
About CME Group
CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) stands as the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, offering clients the ability to trade futures, options, cash, and OTC markets. It empowers global market participants to efficiently manage risk and seize opportunities through portfolio optimization and data analysis. CME Group’s exchanges provide an extensive array of global benchmark products across major asset classes, including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products, and metals. The company facilitates futures and options on futures trading via the CME Globex platform, fixed income trading through BrokerTec, and foreign exchange trading on the EBS platform. Additionally, CME Group operates CME Clearing, a leading central counterparty clearing provider.
About Google Cloud
Google Cloud is recognized as a transformative force in cloud computing, delivering AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools designed for both present and future needs. Its powerful, integrated, and optimized AI stack, featuring planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models, a comprehensive development platform, and AI-powered applications, enables organizations to achieve profound transformation. Serving customers in over 200 countries and territories, Google Cloud is a trusted technology partner globally.
