IN 2014, AS cloud computing was taking off, a group of German technologist(技术专家)s and financial-platform operators had an idea. They launch(推出，发起)ed the Deutsche Börse(① 背景：德意志交易所（Deutsche...) Cloud Exchange, on which firms could buy and sell spare access(闲置接入权限) to computing power.
2014年，随着云计算的兴起，一群德国技术专家和金融平台运营者产生了一个想法。他们推出了德意志交易所云交易所，企业可以在该平台上买卖闲置的计算能力接入权限。
The effort to turn processing power into a liquid asset did not scale well(良好地扩展), according to Randolf Roth, its chief executive and veteran(老手，资深人士) of the exchange business. Standardising central processing units (CPUs), the general-purpose chips that predominate(占主导地位)d at the time, proved too difficult and integrating different types of cloud capacity too expensive. Hopes that futures and options would follow in the wake of(紧随其后) the original launch were dash(使破灭，击碎)ed. The venture(企业，风投项目) shut down in 2016.
据德意志交易所云交易所首席执行官、交易所行业资深人士Randolf Roth称，将处理能力转化为流动性资产的努力未能良好扩展。标准化当时主流的通用芯片——中央处理器（CPU）被证明过于困难，整合不同类型的云容量又过于昂贵。在最初推出之后推出期货和期权的希望破灭了。该企业于2016年关闭。
But Mr Roth and his partners were early to an idea whose time really may have come. Businesses around the world spent $129bn on cloud services in the first quarter of 2026, estimate(估计)s Synergy, a research firm, more than would have been spent in a whole year a decade ago. Immense investment in data centres is under way. America’s five cloud “hyperscale(超大规模)” giants are poised to devote around $700bn to capital expenditure(资本支出) this year.
但罗思先生和他的合作伙伴是早期提出一个想法的人，而这个想法的时机可能真的已经到来。据研究公司Synergy估计，全球企业在2026年第一季度在云服务上的支出达1290亿美元，超过十年前一整年的支出。数据中心正进行巨额投资。美国的五家云“超大规模”巨头今年准备投入约7000亿美元的资本支出。
