Michael Burry Bets Against AI Rally With Put Options on Nvidia, Micron, and Palantir

The Quick Take

• Michael Burry, famed for predicting the 2008 subprime crash, has purchased put options on Nvidia, Micron, and Palantir, signaling a bearish view on AI-driven equities.
• Burry explicitly warns of a 1987-style market crash, arguing that current AI stock valuations echo the speculative excess that preceded historic meltdowns.
• The put positions target three of 2026's highest-momentum AI names, representing a direct bet against continued outperformance in semiconductors and software platforms.

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Michael Burry's return to high-profile contrarian bets places him once again at odds with the prevailing bull narrative in technology stocks. Known for his prescient call on mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 crisis, Burry is now positioning against Nvidia, Micron, and Palantir — three stocks that have collectively defined the AI investment supercycle of 2025-2026. His invocation of the 1987 crash, which saw the Dow fall 22 percent in a single session, suggests he views current valuations as dangerously disconnected from underlying earnings fundamentals.

The market implication is concentrated but pointed. Nvidia dominates AI chip supply, Micron benefits from surging HBM memory demand for AI training, and Palantir has rerated sharply on government and enterprise AI contract wins. A Burry put position does not move markets on its own, but it signals that at least one historically validated contrarian is pricing in tail risk. Peers across the AI semiconductor stack — AMD, Broadcom, SK Hynix — face sentiment drag if institutional money begins hedging AI exposure more broadly following Burry's disclosure.

Forward-looking investors should watch Nvidia's next earnings cadence for any sign of capex pullback from hyperscaler customers, since that would be the first real fundamental catalyst aligning with Burry's thesis. The macro variable that determines whether this call succeeds is the trajectory of the Federal Reserve's rate path — sustained higher-for-longer rates compress growth multiples fastest for high-PE AI names, which would validate Burry's bearish timing even without a 1987-style shock materializing.