# 'Big Short' investor Michael Burry unpacks 'serious competition' for Nvidia that he thinks could shake up the AI trade > Source: > Published: 2026-08-19 17:17:31+00:00 # 'Big Short' investor Michael Burry unpacks 'serious competition' for Nvidia that he thinks could shake up the AI trade [Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com) Michael Burry flagged a potential "disruption" for AI stocks that could stem from Etched, the tech startup hiring top Nvidia talent. - "Big Short" trader Michael Burry warns that Nvidia faces big competition from Etched. - He pointed to key details about the [AI startup](/category/startups), citing public reports and information he got from an insider. - The company could spark a broader reaction across the AI trade, Burry speculated. [Michael Burry](https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-burry-ai-tech-stocks-euphoria-internet-housing-bubbles-enron-2026-8) has fired another shot at AI kingmaker [Nvidia](https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/nvda-stock). The investor, who rose to fame in "The Big Short," took aim at the Jensen Huang-led chipmaker in a new Substack post on Tuesday. This time, he flagged what he sees as "serious competition" for the [GPU](/glossary/gpu) firm, pointing to reports about [Etched](https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/etched-raises-700m-at-a-21b-valuation-and-completes-first-customer-delivery-to-jane-street-1036471031), an AI startup that has nabbed top talent at Nvidia and just secured a $700 million funding round with Jane Street, putting its valuation at a reported $21 billion. Burry pointed to key details about Etched's recruitment and the deployment of its AI chips, citing the Journal's report and information he received from an unnamed company insider. **The firm is efficient.** Etched said it took only 44 days to have its AI chips running[inference](/glossary/inference)workloads. That process generally takes six months or longer.**The firm hires from Nvidia**. Etched also has a large group of staffers who[previously worked at Nvidia](https://www.businessinsider.com/ex-nvidia-employees-new-ai-startup-ventures-2026-6), making up around 15% of its total workforce, the Journal's report said. "This is serious competition for NVDA," Burry wrote on Tuesday. "I am told by a semi insider this is looking at 10x performance at lower cost per die. That it came up so fast is a tell that disruption is in the pipeline, I am told," he added of the broader ramifications for the [artificial intelligence trade](https://www.businessinsider.com/anthropic-openai-ipo-ai-tech-stocks-china-kimik3-steve-eisman-2026-8). Burry, a vocal skeptic of the AI rally, has repeatedly bashed Nvidia since returning to social media late last year. In the past, he's raised alarm on the [circular nature of Nvidia's deals](https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-cuban-michael-burry-nvidia-ai-deals-boom-microchips-infrastructure-2026-7) and troubling technical signals flashing in [Nvidia's stock](https://www.businessinsider.com/big-short-michael-burry-nvidia-stock-price-crash-ai-tokenmaxxing-2026-5). He's also placed [bets against Nvidia](https://www.businessinsider.com/big-short-michael-burry-substack-short-nvidia-microsoft-meta-alphabet-2026-1) and other stars in the AI trade, like [Oracle and Nebius](https://www.businessinsider.com/big-short-michael-burry-oracle-nebius-ai-stocks-data-centers-2026-8), which fall within his larger thesis that AI is a market bubble that's poised for a large correction. [Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/big-short-michael-burry-nvidia-ai-stocks-etched-competition-2026-8) Get AI news in your inbox Daily digest of what matters in AI. ## Key Terms Explained [Artificial Intelligence](/glossary/artificial-intelligence) The science of creating machines that can perform tasks requiring human-like intelligence — reasoning, learning, perception, language understanding, and decision-making. [GPU](/glossary/gpu) Graphics Processing Unit. [Inference](/glossary/inference) Running a trained model to make predictions on new data. [NVIDIA](/glossary/nvidia) The dominant provider of AI hardware.