Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend - October 9th, 2026

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This is Bloomberg Businessweek Daily, reporting from the magazine that helps global leaders stay ahead, with insight on the people, companies, and trends shaping today's complex economy, plus global business, finance, and tech news as it happens. The Bloomberg Businessweek Daily Podcast with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec. On Bloomberg Radio.

Carol Massar (0:31)

Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Bloomberg Businessweek Weekend Podcast. Tim was off this week, and I got to say it was an interesting week, where we sometimes were searching for the headline of the day. Markets bounced around or trade a little changed, reacting sometimes to geopolitics and the price of oil. We did have records on the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ. We did not get much reaction to the release of the Fed Minutes, as we heard that Fed officials see another rate hike before the end of the year. Two more decisions to go.

Meantime, Tesla has lined up $30 billion of new loans and credit lines as it dials up investments on AI and robotics. And Broadcom, fresh off the launch of a $60 billion debt financing to help fund Anthropic's artificial intelligence buildout, is already sketching out plans for its next blockbuster deal.

All of this and more reminded us that massive capital spending and artificial intelligence continues to drive the trade, particularly when it comes to tech names. At the same time, policy uncertainty is rising with campaign messaging heating up ahead of the US midterm elections, which are just about three weeks or so away.

You can find the latest reporting and analysis on all of this. Just head to the Bloomberg and to bloomberg.com. Now with that as our backdrop, we chat about global trade dynamics, foreign direct investment, and the strategic push to build out Europe's data center hub with Michael Lohan, the CEO of IDA Ireland. Also, we get the impact of AI on the world and why guarding your digital ownership is taking on a whole new level of urgency. We'll do that with Ian Rogers, he's Chief Experience Officer at Ledger. Plus, the growing business of growing diamonds in the lab with Natalie Morrison, founder of Astria London, and with the company's global creative director, you may know her, she's Sarah Jessica Parker. All of that to come, we begin with that global view. From Ireland, traditionally a country that's home to many multinationals. You may remember back in March, Irish Prime Minister Taoiseach Michal Martin met with US President Donald Trump at the White House as part of the Irish leader's annual visit to Washington DC for St. Paddy's Day.

In that meeting, we learned that Irish companies committed more than $6.1 billion in new capital spending commitments to the US economy through the 2026-2030 horizon. Well, back with us to talk everything from data centers in diesel to wind power and whiskey is Michael Lohan, CEO of IDA Ireland, the foreign direct investment agency of the Irish government. He joined me and Alexis Christophoros, who was filling in for Tim.

Michael Lohan (3:11)

Yeah, so I think the last time we spoke, actually it was Patrick's week, as we now call it, and we were going to the White House as part of that. I think what's happened, you know, during that week, obviously we got an opportunity to reinforce that strong commitment between the US and Ireland, you know, that dual, I suppose, relationship that we have in terms of investment, US companies investing in Ireland, you know, a proven trust relationship, Irish companies investing here in the US, and we see that continuing, like we see strong momentum of US companies into Ireland. Just in July of this year, we had Intel, you know, another five billion being invested in their global capacity out of Ireland as well.

Carol Massar (3:48)

So data centers.

Michael Lohan (3:49)

No, no, this is on chip manufacturing with Intel. So and that's what's driving the next growth. So so like we continue to see that investment on semiconductors in life sciences, in financial services, fintech. These are all real areas of growth, you know, for the Irish economy and indeed the global economy.

Alexis Christophoros (4:03)

It's not making President Trump very happy though, is it?

Michael Lohan (4:06)

Well, actually, we had President Trump in Ireland just a couple of weeks ago and for a very, a very positive trip as well. And I think when you look at, at the, I suppose the engagement of US companies in Ireland, like it goes back six, seven decades. So we and the growth of those companies has propelled, you know, not just in Ireland, but actually internationally as well. So we're part of that value chain that brings growth to the corporation, both here in the US and indeed globally.