A day before the crash: Israel's richest were warned of a tech crisis

A day before the Wall Street crash, top Israeli investment managers gathered at a closed conference of the Family Office Association, where they were warned of risks in technology and chip stocks. Some entities had already begun moving funds from stocks to bonds.

A day before the severe crash on Wall Street, in which the Nasdaq fell by 5.5% and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plummeted by 12%, top Israeli investment managers gathered at a closed conference of the Family Office Association. The conference discussed the risks surrounding American technology stocks, and several participants issued significant warnings. Tamir Hershkovitz, chief investment officer at Ayalon, warned that "the next big crisis will be a debt crisis of technology companies," due to the financing of huge investments in AI infrastructure through debt raising. Barak Benski from Clal Insurance said that the company had already moved funds from stocks to long-term bonds abroad. Yotam Ironi from Altshuler Shaham warned of an oversupply of chips. On the other hand, some participants called not to panic over the volatility. The article is based on exposure data of institutional investors to chip stocks totaling approximately NIS 37.7 billion.