Michael Burry, the investor made famous by "The Big Short," says the Trump administration cannot afford to let the AI boom fall. In a recent Substack chat he wrote that the AI narrative and buildout "is the only thing keeping this economy going," adding, "They cannot afford to let it fall."

Burry argues AI infrastructure spending has become a key pillar of the US economy, as critical to Washington as to the tech companies driving it. Yet he questions what the government could actually do to prevent a downturn.

He doubts Big Tech can earn enough from AI investments to justify stock prices and warns the huge capital spending could bring large write-offs if returns fail. His disclosed shorts include Nvidia, Oracle, Palantir, Nebius, Micron and CoreWeave, with Oracle, Palantir and Nebius the largest.

In a September 24 post, Burry said Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft and Oracle carry roughly $3 trillion in AI-related spending commitments. He compared the boom to the dot-com bubble and expects write-offs around 2028-2029. Trump has made US AI leadership a national priority, and disclosures show he made over 1,000 trades in July, mostly tech stocks.

Micron's September 30 earnings could test his view: Wall Street expects adjusted EPS of $31.62 and revenue of $51.19 billion, up over 350% year on year.