Scion bought $187.6 million worth of put options on Nvidia (NVDA) and $912 million in puts on Palantir (PLTR), positions that profit if the stocks decline. The move comes just weeks after Nvidia briefly became the world’s most valuable company, crossing the $5 trillion market cap mark and dethroning tech giants like Apple and Microsoft.
The revelation of Burry’s bets triggered renewed anxiety in global markets already showing signs of fatigue after months of relentless gains in technology shares.
The timing of Burry’s move coincides with a broader sell-off in global technology stocks, which have seen their sharpest slide in seven months. On Wednesday, global markets from Tokyo to Frankfurt tumbled as investors reduced exposure to overheated tech counters. Nvidia has fallen 5% over the past five days, while Palantir is down a similar amount.
According to Kotak Equities, the debate over an AI bubble is growing louder. “Most observers agree about a bubble,” the brokerage noted, “but there is no consensus on the duration, magnitude, or even the nature of the bubble.”
Before the short positions were revealed, Burry made cryptic posts on X, “Sometimes, we see bubbles. Sometimes, there is something to do about it. Sometimes, the only winning move is not to play.” Over the past 18 months, Nvidia’s stock has soared more than 200%, fuelled by its unmatched dominance in the AI semiconductor market. The company’s powerful graphics processing units (GPUs) have become the backbone of the modern AI revolution, powering large language models like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. Its data centre revenue has surged triple digits year-on-year, as global tech giants, from Microsoft and Amazon to Meta, continue pouring billions into building AI infrastructure. With roughly 80% market share in AI chips, Nvidia has turned into the most critical supplier for the world’s biggest technology companies.
The rally not only made Nvidia the first company ever to cross the $5 trillion valuation mark, but also turned AI into the single biggest driver of market optimism since the pandemic-era liquidity surge.
Burry’s warning shot
Michael Burry’s latest move is being 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 positions suggest scepticism that the AI boom has gone too far, too fast, drawing comparisons to earlier tech bubbles. His latest bet appears to reflect that same concern — that AI enthusiasm may have priced in decades of future growth in just a year.