FTC eyes exclusive cloud-training contracts as a potential lock-in device

WASHINGTON — Exclusive compute is a commercial prize. It may also be an exhibit. People familiar with the matter said FTC staff have asked questions about training-cloud contracts that lock a lab to a single hyperscaler for multi-year runs.

The companies will argue that capacity is scarce and that a reserved cluster is a supply agreement, not a conspiracy. Staff will argue that scarcity plus exclusivity is how a market tips.

No complaint has been announced. The questions themselves are already changing how term sheets get written. Lawyers are putting 'non-exclusive residual capacity' in places they used to put a press-release quote.