‘Sometimes We See Bubbles’: Big Short Michael Burry’s Bearish Bet on the World’s Most Valuable Stocks Meets a Global AI Selloff

Michael Burry, the investor immortalized by The big short one for predicting the 2008 housing market collapse has once again roiled global markets. His fund, Scion Asset Management, has taken a bearish position on Nvidia and Palantir, two of the biggest symbols of the ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) boom, according to a CNN report. Scion bought $187.6 million worth of put options on Nvidia (NVDA) and $912 million worth of put options on Palantir (PLTR), positions that yield profits if the stock falls. The move comes just weeks after Nvidia briefly became the world’s most valuable company, surpassing its $5 trillion market capitalization and dethroning tech giants like Apple and Microsoft.

The revelation of Burry’s bets sparked renewed anxiety in global markets that were already showing signs of fatigue after months of brutal gains in technology stocks.

The timing of Burry’s move coincides with a broader sell-off in global technology stocks, which have suffered their sharpest decline in seven months. On Wednesday, global markets from Tokyo to Frankfurt tumbled as investors reduced their exposure to overheated technology counters. Nvidia is down 5% over the past five days, while Palantir is down a similar amount.

According to Kotak Equities, the debate about an AI bubble is getting louder. “Most observers agree on a bubble,” the brokerage noted, “but there is no consensus on the duration, size or even nature of the bubble.”

Before the short positions were announced, Burry posted cryptic messages about X: “Sometimes we see bubbles. Sometimes something can be done. Sometimes not playing is the only winning move.” Over the past 18 months, Nvidia stock has risen more than 200%, fueled by its unparalleled dominance in the AI ​​semiconductor market. The company’s powerful graphics processing units (GPUs) have become the backbone of the modern AI revolution, powering major language models such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude. Data center revenue has increased by triple digits year over year, as global tech giants from Microsoft and Amazon to Meta continue to sink billions into building AI infrastructure. With a roughly 80% market share in AI chips, Nvidia has become the most critical supplier to the world’s largest technology companies.

The rally not only made Nvidia the first company ever to cross the $5 trillion valuation mark, but also made AI the biggest driver of market optimism since the pandemic-era liquidity boom.

Burry’s warning shot

Michael Burry’s latest move is seen as a symbolic warning to euphoric investors. In the 2000s, he famously shorted the US housing market while others ignored the risks, a bet that later made him a legend.

His new views indicate skepticism that the AI ​​boom has gone too far and too fast, drawing comparisons to previous technology bubbles. His latest bet seems to reflect that same concern: that AI enthusiasm could have priced in decades of future growth in just a year.