Four ways to buy GPUs, and who each one suits.
Before the SKU question comes the route question, and it changes the price more than the negotiation does. Here are the four routes, what each costs you, and how to tell which one you are actually being offered.
Who pays whom.
| Route | How it works | Suits | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct from distributor | You hold the relationship, the compliance file and the volume | Large, repeat buyers with in-house procurement and export capability | Allocation is gated by KYC and volume, not by willingness to pay |
| Reseller | They buy, mark up and sell to you at their price | Small, standard, urgent purchases where stock on a shelf wins | Every conversation is a negotiation, including the ones framed as advice |
| Buyer-side desk | You transact on supplier direct terms; the desk is paid by the supply side, disclosed | Structured, larger or cross-border deals where the whole stack matters | Ask for the compensation model in writing; not every desk is buyer-side |
| Rent instead | Consume capacity from a GPU cloud, own nothing | Spiky demand, short horizons, teams without operations capacity | At sustained utilisation you pay multiples of the reserved rate |
SSP operates the buyer-side model described above. We have set out the alternatives as fairly as we can, including where they beat us. Rental economics from published provider pricing and the GetDeploying GPU Price Index, 2026.
Follow who pays.
Whichever route you take, the test is the same and it costs you one email: how are you paid on my deal, does any part of your compensation sit inside my price, and will you put that in writing? Length of answer is inversely proportional to cleanliness of model.
The full version of this argument, including where buyer-side desks have their own incentives worth watching, is in the middleman myth. The five vetting questions are in how to vet a sourcing desk.
Asked first, answered straight.
Four practical routes: direct from a distributor if you hold the relationship and the volume, through a reseller who marks up their stock, through a buyer-side procurement desk paid by the supply side, or by renting capacity from a GPU cloud instead of buying at all.
Ask who pays them and whether any part of their compensation sits inside your price, then ask for that in writing. A clean model answers in two sentences. A conflicted one explains why the question is unusual.
Only if you have the allocation, the compliance file and the volume to command attention. Most buyers discover that direct access is gated by exactly those things, which is what the intermediary layer exists to solve.
Nothing directly to the buyer. You contract directly with the supplier on their terms, and our compensation comes from the supply side under disclosed arrangements. Ask us to walk through the structure before you engage; the answer should never be vague.
Working through this on a real requirement?
Twenty minutes with the desk, no pitch and no quote at the end of it. Tell us roughly what you need and we will come back within one business day.
Sent. We are on it.
Your enquiry has landed with the desk. Acknowledged within one hour.