Final week, on the information that Michael Burry, the famend investor of The Huge Brief fame, had put choices on and—extra considerably—, tech shares bought off amid considerations about record-high valuations and a quickly increasing AI bubble.
Consequently, the NASDAQ had its worst week since President Donald Trump’s Liberation Day tariff bulletins in April, and the sudden market correction that adopted.
Whereas Burry’s positions, per his Kind 13F submitting, embrace $186.6 million in places on NVIDIA and $912.1 million in places on Palantir, are focusing on the upper flying AI-leveraged shares. Actually, Burry’s Palantir place now accounts for greater than 66% of Scion Asset Administration’s complete $1.381 billion hedge fund.
However the market’s promoting final week was not remoted solely to AI. Ancillary, pick-and-shovel companies additionally took sizable hits, most notably in nuclear shares. Right here’s why, and what buyers can anticipate transferring ahead.
Why Nuclear Shares Have Been Promoting Off
By and enormous, the sell-off in AI shares adversely impacted a handful of pre-revenue nuclear firms that had been the recipients of what former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan might need known as irrational exuberance.
Look no additional than nuclear gas tech firm , which plunged almost 32% over the previous 5 buying and selling classes.
Previous the sell-off, shares of LTBR have been having fun with a 444% year-to-date (YTD) achieve.
The corporate’s proprietary metallic gas know-how has drawn investor consideration for its potential to enhance reactor effectivity and security.
Whereas nonetheless in growth, Lightbridge’s partnerships with authorities labs and its deal with superior nuclear purposes have helped drive speculative curiosity—whilst the basics stay early-stage.
One other——which develops small modular reactors (SMRs), noticed its inventory give again greater than 18% over the previous month after operating up almost 700% in 2025 earlier than the sell-off started. Oklo’s flagship product, the Aurora microreactor, is designed to chill by way of sodium alloy, not water, growing its purposes for nuclear websites located away from our bodies of water.
This design permits for extra versatile deployment in distant or off-grid areas, increasing its industrial potential past conventional reactor websites. Whereas nonetheless pre-revenue, the corporate has attracted investor consideration attributable to early regulatory progress and strategic curiosity in superior nuclear options. Oklo is anticipated to supply updates on its licensing roadmap and growth pipeline in its upcoming earnings name, which can assist stabilize sentiment following the latest sell-off.
In the meantime, Portland-based SMR maker , one other enormously in style nuclear inventory this 12 months, plummeted greater than 30% in simply the previous 5 buying and selling classes.
SMR was up greater than 200% earlier than the sell-off, adopted by shares hitting their YTD excessive. The corporate isn’t completely pre-revenue because it has begun producing revenue from engineering providers, licensing charges, and early-stage tasks.
But it surely wasn’t simply pre-revenue nuclear firms that took successful. Traders have been additionally grabbing positive factors from well-established companies, which additional drove the sell-off in in any other case speculative shares.
For instance, —the world’s largest publicly traded uranium mining firm—noticed its shares fall by greater than 10% over the previous 5 buying and selling classes. Previous final week’s sell-off, shares of CCJ have been up round 105%.
When these YTD positive factors, it may be argued that final week’s AI inventory fallout triggered nuclear shares to soften down, not as a result of their respective purposes aren’t viable, however as a result of buyers have been locking in returns.
Trying forward, underlying tendencies stay intact, which ought to proceed to reward shareholders who can see previous the short-term noise.
Lengthy-Time period Tailwinds Stay In Place For Nuclear
Whereas Burry might in some circles be thought of prescient, his places on NVIDIA and Palantir probably have extra to do with their runaway valuations which are unsupported by their earnings. Nevertheless, these positions don’t in any approach counsel that AI information facilities’ projected demand for electrical energy has been lowered, deterred, or altered in any approach.
That’s as a result of final week’s sell-off is just not a sign that underlying AI infrastructure tendencies are not in place. At present, AI accounts for 4.4% of all U.S. vitality consumption. However by 2030, that determine is anticipated to balloon to 12% to twenty% of whole consumption.
None of that has basically modified, and with america grappling with quickly growing old infrastructure, this all bodes properly for nuclear tech firms which are aligning themselves with the objectives of hyperscalers and Magnificent Seven firms.
Based on market consultancy agency Grand View Analysis, the AI information middle trade is anticipated to develop at a compound annual development price (CAGR) of 28.3% from 2025 to 2030. Whereas the CAGR over the identical interval for the SMR trade is projected to be 3.3%, this doesn’t account for a way the hole between present electrical energy manufacturing and the forecasted demand for AI information facilities will likely be crammed.
In the meantime, the AI-driven increase in information middle building can’t go unmentioned. Earlier this 12 months, Apollo Chief Economist Torsten Sløk famous that, regardless of GDP contracting in Q1 this 12 months, information middle building added 1% to GDP development. Then, in early August, Fortune reported that information facilities have surpassed client spending as probably the most vital contributor to the U.S. GDP.
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