Michael Burry, the Investor Known From "The Big Short, Appears to Have Scored Big With His Bearish Bets Against Chip Stocks"

Michael Burry, the investor known from "The Big Short, appears to have scored big with his bearish bets against chip stocks in July. In a June 30 Substack post, he said he shorted the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) at about $643 and refreshed his put options. The fund, which tracks the NYSE Semiconductor Index and includes Nvidia, AMD, Micron, and Intel, fell 21% over the next month to close at $505 on July 31. Larry McDonald, author of "The Bear Traps Report" and former Société Générale macro strategist, praised the wager on X, noting the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) had its worst July in 30 years.

Burry, famous for his prescient bet against the housing bubble, explained his bearish stance in June, citing the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index's overextension and a price-to-sales ratio above 16. He labeled SOXX a "pure form of overvaluation in an index" and rolled his puts to March 2027 with strike prices in the low-to-mid $400s. He added to his short in late July at around $536 and again at $506, calling the chip trade "tired. He has also disclosed bets against Nvidia, Micron, and the Nasdaq 100. Burry, a vocal AI skeptic, has warned that hyperscalers like Meta and Alphabet are overspending on chips and data centers. He didn't disclose dollar amounts, so his exact gains remain unclear.