The Rundown: Tech talent pipeline dries up, AI companies hunt for more capital

A big action by the US government on a key tech talent pipeline, and AI companies everywhere are raising money. I'm Ed Ludlow and this is the rundown the biggest stories on Bloomberg Tech this week. The Trump administration suspending a key program for some tech companies and nine universities, which is their talent pipeline. Their ability to get green cards for foreign workers. And they specifically single out Microsoft, which was awkward because later that day. Microsoft CEO is in the white House with the president getting a medal for services to science and technology. And no exaggeration, it felt like every AI company everywhere is raising money in different ways. It started with space. Bloomberg reporting talks for $40 billion of debt, $10 billion of loans, $30 billion of IG bonds because they need to fund GPUs out in China and in Asia. You have deep seek and moonshot, the startup behind kamikaze. Both closing private rounds but as precursors to IPOs in mainland China and Hong Kong, respectively. The capacity is absolutely there in the equity market. The lesson is that they are able to tap other markets as well. The lesson is that retail investors very much want to participate, and there are still lots of concerns out there about like air bubbles and secure financing. But the markets are so willing to hand over money to these AI companies. I'm Ed Ludlow and this was the rundown. And for all the data and news you need, you know where to find us.