"Korea's 800 Trillion Won Investment, the AI Rally Has Reached Its End" ... 'The Big Short' Burry Bets on Semiconductor Stocks Falling
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- 2026-07-01 14:23:02
- Updated
- 2026-07-01 14:23:02
[Financial News] Michael Burry, the Wall Street investor who predicted the global financial crisis and became the real-life model for The Big Short, has disclosed short positions in major semiconductor stocks such as NVIDIA and warned that the AI market bubble is nearing collapse.
According to overseas media including CNBC on the 30th of last month local time, Burry revealed in an investor letter that he had shorted NVIDIA, Applied Materials, Tesla, Caterpillar, and the iShares Semiconductor ETF.
In particular, Burry described Samsung Electronics and SK hynix's announcement the previous day that they would invest about 800 trillion won to build four plants in the southwest region, including Gwangju, as the "beginning of the end," a sign that the AI investment cycle has peaked.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped 3.92% on the New York stock market immediately after the announcement, but Burry viewed the move as a classic sign of market overheating.
Burry said he was concerned that indicators for the semiconductor sector were approaching levels seen just before the 2008 financial crisis.
He noted that the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index is currently trading about 65% above its 200-day moving average, adding that such a gap is "the first since the dot-com bubble burst."
He also said Caterpillar, which has been seen as a beneficiary of AI data center infrastructure and saw its stock surge 86% in the first half of this year alone, is overvalued, with its price-to-sales ratio reaching the highest level in more than 30 years.
However, Burry's predictions have not always been right. He gained fame for foreseeing the 2008 financial crisis, but his later short bet on Tesla and his 2023 put-option wager on the U.S. stock market did not produce clear results as the market kept rising. Investors are now watching closely to see whether this latest bet will pay off.
sms@fnnews.com Sung Min-seo Reporter