Michael Burry warns of massive write-downs at Big Tech stocks

Star investor Michael Burry warned on September 24, 2026 of massive write-downs at Big Tech corporations due to excessive AI investments. The investor, who became famous for his successful bet against the US real estate market before the 2008 financial crisis, identified approximately 3 trillion dollars in AI-related commitments that do not appear on the balance sheets of major technology corporations.

3 trillion dollars off the balance sheet

Burry pointed out in a public statement that so-called hyperscalers – large cloud and technology companies – have entered into enormous financial commitments for AI infrastructure that are kept off balance sheet. According to Burry, these off-balance-sheet commitments could "blow a hole in Big Tech revenues".

Specifically, the investor named five companies that should be affected by this development:

• Amazon (AMZN)
• Meta (META)
• Alphabet/Google (GOOGL)
• Microsoft (MSFT)
• Oracle (ORCL)

Write-downs projected for 2028 to 2029

According to Burry's assessment, the expected write-downs should take effect within a period of two to three years – specifically in 2028 to 2029. The investor draws parallels to the telecommunications bubble of the dot-com era, when companies invested heavily in infrastructure that later proved to be oversized.

Burry argues that the unprecedented AI infrastructure spending by major technology corporations represents an unsustainable accumulation of financial risks. If the returns from these massive investments fall short of expectations, significant write-downs would be inevitable.

Oracle in particular focus

Burry expressed particular concerns on September 25, 2026 regarding Oracle. The investor questioned the software company's accounting practices in connection with customer prepayments and revenue recognition. Additionally, he pointed to rising debt levels and cost risks associated with Oracle's Project Jupiter – an initiative to expand data centers.

Repeated warnings since January

The current statements represent a repeat and update of earlier warnings. As early as January 12, 2026, Burry had warned of widespread bankruptcies and write-downs and predicted a possible "panic of 2026 or 2027". The September statements clarified this assessment with more concrete timing and focused more strongly on the AI infrastructure spending of hyperscalers.

Burry communicated his warnings through blog posts and investor statements. The comparison to the telecommunications bubble of the early 2000s underscores his concern that current AI euphoria could lead to a similar wave of misguided investments.