Renowned U.S. short seller Michael Burry has called for evidence—particularly photographic—of customers stockpiling NVIDIA's graphics processing units (GPUs), casting doubt on the company's shipment claims.
Burry's move follows an analysis posted on social media platform X, which questioned whether CEO Jensen Huang's reported shipment of 6 million Blackwell chips aligns with NVIDIA's revenue figures and U.S. data center capacity. The post, authored by an X user named Kakashii who identifies as a lawyer, highlighted discrepancies in the data.
According to CNBC, Huang stated in October that demand for NVIDIA's chips continues to surge, with 6 million Blackwell chips shipped over the past four quarters. He projected that the Blackwell series and next year's Rubin lineup would generate $500 billion in combined sales.
However, Kakashii's analysis suggests that NVIDIA's $111 billion data center revenue since Blackwell's launch appears insufficient to support such high shipment volumes. The post estimates a potential gap of hundreds of thousands to millions of GPUs.
The analysis also points out the substantial energy requirements for running Blackwell chips. If 6 million GPUs were indeed shipped, with 65%–70% deployed in U.S. data centers, they would demand 8.5–11 gigawatts of power—roughly equivalent to Singapore's total electricity generation. Yet, the U.S. is only adding about 8.5 GW of data center power capacity between 2024 and 2025, assuming exclusive use of NVIDIA hardware without competitors' products.
Kakashii concluded that current power infrastructure barely matches NVIDIA's claimed GPU shipments. Burry reposted the analysis, urging X users to send him photos or proof of "large-scale" NVIDIA GPU stockpiles domestically or abroad. "Some have reached out," he wrote, "but I need more—this is getting interesting."
Burry has recently intensified scrutiny of NVIDIA, examining circular investments among AI firms, revenue recognition practices, and how tech giants depreciate computing equipment. Bloomberg previously raised concerns about the obsolescence timeline for NVIDIA's GPUs, while others question the sustainability of AI infrastructure spending.
In recent months, Burry has repeatedly warned of an AI bubble in U.S. markets. He shared a Wells Fargo chart on X showing stocks now outweigh real estate in American household wealth—a rare occurrence seen only twice before: during the 1960s and before the 2000 dot-com crash. "Both precedents were followed by multi-year bear markets," he noted.
Burry gained fame for shorting the U.S. housing market in 2008, a story depicted in the film *The Big Short*.
Comments