What happens if AI growth slows?

Oil prices are pushing higher as Middle East tensions intensify, while growing concerns about the pace of AI development are putting the technology trade under pressure. A potential AI slowdown also raises a bigger financial question: who pays for the massive data-centre leases, debt and power commitments accumulated during the AI boom? Meanwhile, central banks add another layer of uncertainty. The Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan are expected to raise rates this week, increasing borrowing costs just as concerns about AI-led growth emerge. Technology-heavy markets, including the Kospi, TAIEX and Nasdaq, could remain particularly vulnerable, while higher oil prices weigh on the broader market. With bonds under pressure and even traditional safe havens like gold and the Swiss franc struggling, investors may increasingly look toward energy, miners and hard commodities for relative protection. Listen to find out more! Ipek Ozkardeskaya has begun her financial career in 2010 in the structured products desk of the Swiss Banque Cantonale Vaudoise. She worked at HSBC Private Bank in Geneva in relation to high and ultra-high net worth clients. In 2012, she started as FX Strategist at Swissquote Bank. She worked as a Senior Market Analyst in London Capital Group in London and in Shanghai. She returned to Swissquote Bank as Senior Analyst in 2020, and launched her own website ipekScope.com in 2025.