Michael Burry Exits Microsoft, Rolls Nvidia and QQQ Puts Into 2027

Michael Burry has updated his book, and the changes tell a clear story: he is narrowing the AI-bubble thesis and pushing the timeline further out. Microsoft longs and calls are gone, Oracle shorts are closed, and the big Nvidia and QQQ puts have been rolled deeper into 2027.

What Burry disclosed

In an August 4 Substack post, Burry exited his long position in Microsoft, closed his short position in Oracle, and covered his January 2026 short on Palantir. He rolled his Nvidia short position to June 2027 and extended his short on the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF to February 2027.

The rolled Nvidia puts carry strikes in the low $100s, and Burry continues to hold his remaining short positions.

Why the Microsoft exit matters

Scion Asset Management disclosed on June 25, 2026 that it had bought Microsoft call options expiring December 2028 with strike prices in the low $700s, a bet that shares would roughly double from the low-$350s the stock had fallen to. That trade is now closed.

Exiting Microsoft while staying short Nvidia tells you something specific about how Burry views the AI landscape. Microsoft is a diversified software giant that happens to have AI exposure through its OpenAI partnership. Nvidia is the company selling the shovels during the gold rush. By dropping the former and doubling down on the latter, Burry appears to be narrowing his thesis toward companies most directly inflated by AI capital spending.

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The remaining short book

Burry continues to hold short positions in the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX), Micron, Caterpillar, and Tesla. The remaining short book reads like a who’s who of companies riding the AI and semiconductor wave: Nvidia, Palantir, Tesla, Micron, Applied Materials, Caterpillar, and the SOXX semiconductor ETF.

Caterpillar’s presence on the short list is worth noting too. The construction equipment maker has been a beneficiary of data center buildout spending, making it a logical extension of a thesis against AI infrastructure investment.

Context: a market at record highs

The S&P 500 gained 136.02 points, or 1.8%, to close at a record 7,736.52 on August 4. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.7% to 54,085.88, also a record, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.6% to 26,584.99, according to the AP News.

Alongside his updated positions, Burry warned that the market could still be heading toward a crash similar to the 1987 sell-off despite the S&P 500 climbing to fresh record highs. For more coverage, see other news.

Options market and stocks to watch

Watch for follow-through in these names as traders digest the disclosure:

• MSFT: watch for whether the removal of a high-profile bull thesis changes near-term positioning after strong earnings.
• NVDA: watch put flow into June 2027 expiries and low-$100s strikes for confirmation of the rolled bearish structure.
• QQQ: watch February 2027 put open interest and skew as a proxy for macro AI-trade hedging.
• ORCL: watch for short-cover flow now that a well-known bear has stepped away.
• PLTR: watch how the stock trades with Burry still short shares but out of the January 2026 puts.

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