Michael Burry, famed for his call on the 2008 housing crash, has increased his bearish wagers against Nvidia, widening his short positions across the semiconductor sector. In his July 2026 filings, Burry’s Scion Asset Management revealed a boost in Nvidia put options, alongside new or enlarged shorts in Applied Materials, Micron, Tesla, Caterpillar, and the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX).
Scale and Strategy of Burry’s Bet
Back in Q3 2025, Scion disclosed Nvidia put options worth around $187 million, roughly representing 1 million shares. Since then, Burry has intensified the gamble, pushing bets further into the semiconductor field. Nvidia’s shares have dropped about 5% since his initial shorts in November 2025, influenced in part by recent Korean chip spending announcements. While significant, his Nvidia short pales in comparison to his earlier $912 million Palantir position.
Underlying Thesis on Chip Depreciation
Burry’s argument hinges on the financial practices of hyperscalers like Microsoft and Google, which make up close to half of Nvidia’s data-center revenue. These companies have been extending the depreciation periods for their chip assets, smoothing out expenses over longer times even as the actual technology ages faster. According to Burry, GPUs purchased today may become functionally outdated within three years, despite being depreciated over six years, creating discrepancies between accounting figures and real economic value.
If these hyperscalers adjust their accounting through write-downs or reduce orders due to this mismatch, Nvidia’s future revenue could suffer hits not yet priced into the market. The fact that Burry is also shorting the broader SOXX ETF and other chipmakers suggests he expects the downturn to impact semiconductor stocks widely, not just Nvidia alone.
