Tom Lee calls AI selloff's "end stages" as tech slides
His CNBC appearance argues that tighter financing could restrain an AI bubble rather than signal one bursting.
CNBC Television
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 224,324 views a day, 19 times a normal first day on this channel (11,944).
Fundstrat's Tom Lee: We're near the end stages of the AI selloff
Things we can learn from the video
Press to jump
- 0:30Lee argues that technological breakthroughs and capital efficiency suggest AI investment is still at an early stage.
- 1:00He compares AI infrastructure spending with mobile networks and roads, saying credit constraints can curb speculation.
- 2:12Lee says he would buy the selloff and believes the downturn is nearing its final stages.
- 2:56His preferred areas include beaten-down AI leaders, cyclical software, crypto and financials.
- 3:51He cites Cisco's sharp 1997 decline and subsequent rise as a parallel from the early internet boom.
The Nasdaq is retreating from its high, but Tom Lee sees a useful brake in the market's anxiety over AI spending: lenders are making it harder for speculation to run unchecked.
On CNBC Television's Closing Bell, the Fundstrat managing partner tells Scott Wapner that technological breakthroughs and improving capital efficiency leave him confident that AI investment is still early. He compares the infrastructure spending with building mobile networks and roads, projects whose usefulness extends beyond the initial construction bill.
"I think it's actually really healthy that the debt markets are sort of preventing a runaway, speculative boom in AI," Lee says.
His answer to whether he would buy the decline is yes. He argues that betting against technology has become too widely shared a position, and points to battered AI leaders, cyclical software, crypto and financials as opportunities.
The interview drew about 110,000 views in eight hours, an unusually fast start for CNBC Television's regular videos. The comments turn on the timing of Lee's optimism: some question his confidence in a bottom, while others describe his steady outlook as reassuring.
A separate Investment Committee discussion, "The AI race deepens as access to capital shrinks: Your next move," also attracted an unusually large audience. Financing is the common thread, but Lee's interview supplies a distinctly optimistic answer: he reaches back to Cisco's sharp decline during the early internet boom as a reminder that a promising technology and a painful stock-market setback can coexist.
Published on Trari
Where next?
What viewers say
Would you buy the sell-off is very different from how much of the sell-off have you already bought
@briaf3370See it on YouTubeMy mood changes (flipping positive) every time I hear Tom Lee even on a bad day like this
@TheEthicalSalesCoachSee it on YouTube
Public comments from the video's page on YouTube
Is this your channel?For the channel's owners and team: a ready picture, text and badge for your audience
Share the story with your audience. Everything is ready:
For an Instagram story or a WhatsApp status
For a community post or your channel's description
For your website
You may use the picture, the badge, and link it to this story.
- Channel
- CNBC Television
- Subscribers
- 3,410,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 6,138,495
- Channel views, pace per day
- 501,851 (on a normal day: 804,643)
- Video published
- October 22, 2026
- Video views so far
- 110,041 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 224,324
The numbers
Lee's interview and the separate AI financing discussion both drew unusually fast audiences, even as CNBC Television's overall daily views ran below their usual pace.
💡 Test your knowledge
Which earlier infrastructure buildout does Tom Lee compare with AI investment?
Lee compares AI infrastructure spending with the buildout of mobile networks, as well as road construction.