Michael Burry Ignores AI Buzz, Bets on Copper

"Big Short” investor Michael Burry is avoiding the technology sector’s AI trade, instead deploying capital into other ventures.

In a September 22 Substack update, Burry disclosed new positions in Brazilian copper miner Ero Copper (TSX:ERO), building-products firm QXO (NYSE:QXO), Australian furniture retailer Temple & Webster (ASX:TPW), Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM), and animal health company Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS).

"The house party is packed, pushing AI higher today, but I am largely ignoring the 'woo-hoos,'" Burry wrote.

Just last month, Burry publicly compared the relentless positivity surrounding AI infrastructure investments to the dot-com era and the mid-2000s housing bubble, warning that the current environment is "orders of magnitude more dangerous to the economy and investors than Enron."

"That is how it felt in May of 2007 when the Fed Chair was saying there would be no contagion or a couple years earlier when he said there is no such thing as a housing bubble,” Burry told Business Insider.

Rather than shorting the technology directly, Burry’s largest disclosed new conviction is an indirect play on AI infrastructure demand through Ero Copper.

"All those back at the house are going to be needing a lot of copper," Burry stated, calling his stake in the higher-cost producer a mid-sized position. "Ero common does it for me."

While COMEX copper recently settled at US$6.6865 per pound, up 46 percent over the past 12 months, Burry is relying on a looming structural deficit.

He noted that major copper discoveries containing at least 500,000 tons have evaporated from double-digit annual totals in the 1990s to zero in 2025. Since new deposits require up to 18 years to reach production, Burry anticipates that surging demand from data centers will trigger extreme price expansion before new supply materializes.

Notably, Ero Copper maintained its 2026 production guidance of 67,500 to 77,500 tons.

Burry also acquired common shares and 5.5 percent Series B mandatory convertible preferred stock in QXO. The company is executing a roll-up strategy in the highly fragmented building-products distribution market under Brad Jacobs, the founder of United Rentals and XPO.

The remainder of Burry's disclosed purchases targeted severely punished equities, accumulating a "fairly large position" in Temple & Webster which plummeted 82 percent over the past year following a 62 percent collapse in fiscal 2026 net income, alongside Sprouts Farmers Market, down 43 percent year-over-year, and animal-drug maker Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS), which has lost half its market value.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.