The Fed Just Hiked Rates for the First Time Since 2023. 3 AI Stocks That Could Feel It Most

The Federal Reserve just did something it hasn't done since July 2023. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted 12-0 to raise the federal funds rate by a quarter point, to a range of 3.75% to 4%. New Chairman Kevin Warsh framed the move as overdue: Inflation remains too high, and the committee wants a faster path back to its long-term goal of 2%. Rising interest rates matter for the artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure boom because the build-out is no longer a cash-only story. The hyperscalers building data centers and buying chips have been flooding the bond market over the last year. A rate hike does not bankrupt big tech, but it does change the math on the next megawatt and the next graphics processing unit cluster.