There's the IntelligentBaseline model, in which the purchaser orders a fixed number of cores. The UpgradesOnly allows the user to remotely activate additional cores that have been shipped but not used.  The Limited Up/Downgrade allows both increases and decreases in computational power over the life of the system, with attendant payments or refunds. Finally, there are proposals for renting cores or paying for usage of leased cores.

The authors claim that manufacturing costs do not rise in lockstep with the number of cores stamped on a die, once initial design and verification phases have been completed.