Risk-off tape, AI-specific overhang: Equities sold off into Friday on a mix of oil spike / geopolitics and a weaker jobs print, while AI-chip export control headlines added a targeted hit to semis.
Washington pulled “power” into the AI policy frame: The White House rolled out a voluntary “Ratepayer Protection Pledge” with major hyperscalers/AI firms, effectively saying: if you build data centers, you fund the energy and grid upgrades.
Private markets stayed hot—especially “picks & shovels”: The biggest checks again went to AI infrastructure(not app-layer), led by Ayar Labs’ $500M round in optical interconnects.
