The tech economy is not an island

Tech's downturn is shining a spotlight on the industry's vulnerability to fast-moving trends and conflicts beyond its own boundaries. This matters because Silicon Valley leaders and thinkers paint their companies and products as magical innovations that emerge from the inner logic of tech's disruptive dynamics. But the industry's cycles are usually driven by external forces. The financial tides explain the beating tech is now taking — much more so than the product cycles and platform shifts that occupy so much of the industry's attention. Overall, rising interest rates represent the single biggest factor driving the current tech slowdown.