Bloomberg Tech – "AI, Crypto Anxiety Creates Volatile Week for Markets"

Date: November 21, 2025
Host: Bloomberg Tech Team

Episode Overview

This Bloomberg Tech episode dissects one of the most volatile weeks in recent tech market memory, driven by macroeconomic forces, AI exuberance and fear, and fresh crypto worries. The conversation covers heavy market movement, the fallout from Nvidia’s earnings, concerns about an AI bubble, crypto sell-offs and quantum risk, and the surge in tech capex and private investment. The show also features key interviews: OpenAI’s datacenter partnership with Foxconn, Meta’s venture into power trading, and strategies from leading VCs and tech founders.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Major Market Volatility: AI & Tech Stock Sell-Off

• Context:
  • NASDAQ down 4% for the week — worst since April. (02:37)
  • Nvidia, despite strong earnings, fell 8% over five days.
  • Oracle facing its worst week since 2018.
• Carmen Reineke (Bloomberg Equities):
  • Volatility isn’t just due to single-company performance; macroeconomic uncertainties weigh heavily.
  • Investors searching for tangible reasons for sell-offs—focusing on debt, inventories, and Fed commentary.
  • Divergence emerging: Apple and Google up (Google buoyed by Gemini 3 optimism), while top AI names tumble.

    "Nvidia's report, as good as it was, wasn't enough to quell some of these overall fears… we're seeing a very risk off mentality." (03:20)

• Market Anxiety Triggers:
  • Debt-related anxiety, especially regarding Oracle's credit default swaps (CDS) as AI spending surges.
  • Concerns about whether rapid capex will generate near-term returns.

    "Investors are just not convinced yet… they're just seeing the house of cards." – Carmen Reineke (05:34)

Crypto’s Unsettling Month: Bitcoin & ETF Pressures

• Bitcoin's Plunge:
  • On track for its worst month since 2022, down 25%. Virtual coin market drops below $3T. (06:13)
• James Seaford (Bloomberg Intelligence):
  • Recent sell-offs reflect both hangover from October’s leverage washout and overall risk-off sentiment.
  • Most selling is happening in the spot crypto market, not ETFs.

    "Most of the selling is happening from the actual spot crypto markets." (06:55)

  • Digital Asset Corporations (DACs) contributed to the run-up and now to the downturn as they de-lever.
  • Quantum computing is also increasingly seen as a legitimate (not just FUD) crypto risk, with figures like Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin expressing concern.

    "There's a blogger who everyone kind of respects in the space has moved up his timelines and a lot of people like to say it's fud… But people are starting to take this seriously, including the leader and founder of Ethereum, Vitalik." (08:05)

Investor Perspective: Managing Market Fear and AI Bubble Debate

• Eric Bailey (Bailey Group at Steward Partners):
  • Markets are in a correction phase; defensives (utilities, pharma) are outperforming.
  • Investors waiting for clarity—especially from the Fed on rates.

    "The Fed adds a level of confidence to investors… a rate cut would, in my view, bring in confidence to the markets and should help equities, especially growth equities." (12:39)

  • Despite the volatility, S&P and global markets are still up double digits YTD.

    "Investors… have to step back and be patient and be calm and actually look at these sell offs as an opportunity." (13:27)

  • AI capex: he sees it as a necessary investment for productivity rather than pure bubble, citing the strong fundamentals from companies like Nvidia and Alphabet.

    "If you want growth, AI is the place you want to be." (14:07)

AI Infrastructure: OpenAI & Foxconn (Hon Hai) U.S. Datacenter Partnership

• Sam Altman (OpenAI CEO):
  • Announced partnership with Foxconn to design/build AI datacenter hardware in the U.S.(17:22)

    "I'm excited for that to happen in the US and with Foxconn. Foxconn's experience building complex infrastructure and hardware at massive scale makes them the ideal partner." (17:22)

• Hon Hai Chairman Young Lu:
  • Ambitious goals: targeting up to 1 gigawatt per week of new compute capacity eventually (starting with 1 per month in 2H 2026). (18:25)
  • Initial $1–$5B capex planned for U.S. factories and R&D.
  • Biggest bottleneck isn't cost but labor shortage — working with local governments and schools to build workforce. (19:48)

    "We had to work closely with schools and the government… to get their people ready for the kind of job that we required." (19:58)

• Seth Fiegeman (Bloomberg):
  • OpenAI’s strategy is to strengthen its infrastructure “moat” in the face of rising model commoditization and market anxiety, not just in models but supply chain and hardware.

    "What you've seen Altman and OpenAI do is try to assert more ownership over the supply chain for data center build out and chips in a way that could give them a different kind of competitive advantage…" (20:46)

AI Power Demand: Meta’s Entry into Power Trading

• Meta’s Energy Strategy:
  • Meta is becoming a power trading company to secure long-term energy contracts for its growing compute needs, aiming to "front-load" for the AI superintelligence push. (23:57)
• Riley Griffin (Bloomberg):
  • Too few buyers committing long-term to justify building new power plants; Meta aims to manage risk and guarantee compute resources.

    "By becoming a power trader, it would essentially lock in these long term deals to support its ambitions." (24:38)

  • Meta joins Apple, Microsoft, and others in energy trading to future-proof AI/data center capacity.

Big Tech Debt: AI-Driven Borrowing and Creative Financing

• Ryan Vlastelica (Bloomberg):
  • Five big AI spenders (Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Oracle) raised over $100B in debt this year—33x the decade average. (27:47)
  • Oracle viewed as most exposed due to weaker balance sheet, negative cash flow, and surging CDS costs.

    "Their [Oracle's] credit default swaps for the next five years… were around 44 basis points in September, they're over 100 now." (27:47)

  • Creative financing, off-balance-sheet debt, and private credit (e.g., Blue Owl–Meta deal) are all fueling market uncertainty and risk.

    "It just seems like they add to the risk of the market… numbers you can't fill in. And that just causes people to think maybe this is more risky than we thought." (29:19)

Private Market View: The AI Bubble and Venture Investment

• Rebecca Lynn (Canvas Prime):
  • Clear on AI bubble:

    "I definitely think we're in a bubble. But what's more interesting I think to talk about is how we as early stage investors react and how we invest in incredible companies..." (30:24)

  • Extreme vigilance needed on revenue and contracts; scrutinizing every detail due to overhyped, often ephemeral ARR accounting. (31:18)
  • VC diligence and governance in early- and mid-stage rounds is lagging—too much money leading to less oversight.

    "They can't do that really deep diligence because they simply have too much capital to deploy." (33:11)

  • Outsize deals: 62% of 2025's venture dollars went into just 8 deals.

    "We're seeing Series A's… with sub $10 million of actual revenue going for $500 million plus in valuation." (34:41)

  • Bigger concern than price: Founders demanding total board control, threatening long-term governance and health.

    "That is a recipe for disaster in most situations." (36:03)

U.S. AI Chip Exports to the Middle East: Cerebras’ Perspective

• Andrew Feldman (Cerebras Systems CEO):
  • U.S. approves advanced AI chip sales to UAE & Saudi Arabia, boosting regional AI ambitions.
  • Security: G42, Cerebras’ UAE partner, provides a "restricted technology environment" to prevent backdoor transfers to China. (41:09)

    "We're really confident that… it will keep the technology both physically from being transported to China as well as used by… Chinese agents." (41:09)

  • Collaboration with U.S. agencies is strong but startups still seek more support compared to Nvidia. (43:11)

Canva’s Creative Suite and IPO Path

• Cliff Obrachi (Canva CEO):
  • Affinity suite (acquired and now free) exploded past two million downloads.
  • Canva democratizes design—now covering professionals (Affinity) and non-professionals (Canva core).

    "We launched Canva to enable the 90 to 99% of the world who couldn't design… now we have both professional designers and everyone else able to design for free and with ease." (44:56)

  • Financials: $3.5B annual revenue, 260M users, profitable for eight years. IPO within two years likely.

    "Yeah, it's probably imminent in the next couple of years, that's for sure." (46:50)

  • Healthy partnership with OpenAI, leveraging AI models for design ecosystem.

    "OpenAI, absolutely fantastic partner of ours… you can even start a design within ChatGPT now." (48:02)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Nvidia's report, as good as it was, wasn't enough to quell some of these overall fears… we're seeing a very risk off mentality."
  – Carmen Reineke, (03:20)

• "The Fed adds a level of confidence… a rate cut would, in my view, bring in confidence to the markets and should help equities, especially growth equities."
  – Eric Bailey, (12:39)

• "I'm excited for that to happen in the US and with Foxconn. Foxconn's experience building complex infrastructure and hardware at massive scale makes them the ideal partner."
  – Sam Altman, (17:22)

• "Meta is taking matters into its own hands here. By becoming a power trader, it would essentially lock in these long term deals to support its ambitions."
  – Riley Griffin, (24:38)

• "Their [Oracle's] credit default swaps for the next five years… over 100 now. This just shows you how people are growing concerned about all of this Capex."
  – Ryan Vlastelica, (27:47)

• "I definitely think we're in a bubble.… But what's more interesting I think to talk about is how we as early stage investors react..."
  – Rebecca Lynn, (30:24)

• "We're really confident that… it will keep the technology both physically from being transported to China as well as used by… Chinese agents."
  – Andrew Feldman, (41:09)

• "We launched Canva to enable the 90 to 99% of the world who couldn't design… now we have both professional designers and everyone else able to design for free and with ease."
  – Cliff Obrachi, (44:56)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Tech Market Volatility & AI Bubble Concerns: 02:37–06:13
• Crypto sell-off and quantum risks: 06:13–10:09
• Investor viewpoint on corrections, Fed, and AI valuation: 10:29–14:41
• OpenAI–Foxconn datacenter hardware partnership: 17:22–22:18
• Meta’s power trading & tech companies as energy traders: 23:57–25:57
• Big Tech debt binge, creative financing worries: 27:47–30:01
• AI Bubble/Private investing diligence & governance: 30:24–36:03
• US AI chip exports: Cerebras’s entry into the Middle East: 40:15–43:55
• Canva: Free Affinity suite, IPO plans, OpenAI partnership: 44:29–49:02

Summary

This episode offers a sweeping, candid look at technology markets under stress: High-growth tech and AI stocks tumbled, battered by macroeconomic, debt, and valuation concerns; crypto endured major selling pressure with new quantum uncertainty; and investors, founders, and executives alike debated whether AI’s capex surge is bubble or boon. Meanwhile, the infrastructure underpinning AI — from Foxconn's datacenter hardware to Meta’s energy hedging — took center stage as tech giants and startups alike tried to secure their future in an increasingly risky, resource-hungry environment.

For listeners interested in the intersection of tech, markets, innovation, and risk—the episode is a rich, timely, and unvarnished guide to the questions shaping the future of business.