# Ackman Warns Fed Rate Hike May Miss AI Investment Demand

By Riza Dagoc

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/regulation/24893
Published: 2026-09-28T12:17:07.000Z
Updated: 2026-09-28T12:17:07.000Z
Section: Regulation

> The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate to 3.75%-4.00%, while AI spending continues to expand across major technology companies.

Bill Ackman warned that the Federal Reserve’s 25-basis-point rate increase to 3.75%-4.00% may fail to curb investment demand as technology companies continue increasing AI-related capital spending.

Ackman said companies could keep building data centers and purchasing computing capacity even as financing becomes more expensive. That spending could weaken the traditional restraint that higher interest rates place on business investment.

Higher interest costs could also move through supply chains and pricing systems, adding to inflationary pressure rather than reducing it, Ackman said. The Federal Reserve is targeting 2% inflation, but U.S. inflation remains above that level.

Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft are expected to spend at least $650 billion on AI-related investments this year. Global AI spending is projected to reach $2.7 trillion in 2026, representing a 49.5% increase.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, has also described a rate increase at this point as potentially mistaken. Zandi said bringing inflation back to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target may require restraining the AI investment boom or putting additional pressure on other parts of the economy.

Markets are pricing in an October rate increase. A 30-day federal funds futures market measure implies roughly a 64% probability of a hike during the month.