NVIDIA (NVDA), Palantir Technologies (PLTR), and the AI Achilles’ Heel: Steve Eisman’s Concentration Warning Explained

NVIDIA (NVDA), Palantir Technologies (PLTR), and the AI Achilles’ Heel: Steve Eisman’s Concentration Warning Explained

Fatima Gulzar

Fri, August 28, 2026 at 8:10 PM GMT+3 4 min read

"Big Short" investor Steve Eisman warned on CNBC's "Fast Money" on August 13 that OpenAI and Anthropic account for roughly 70% of AI-related revenue at Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Oracle, and as much as 25% to 35% of those companies' cloud revenue. "The futures of these massive companies, in a sense, are a bet that OpenAI and Anthropic are going to succeed," Eisman said. He called the concentration the "Achilles' heel" of the AI trade, warning that if something goes wrong at either lab, cheaper Chinese open-weight models could spark a price war across the industry. Eisman said he is not shorting the trade yet, since he wants financial data once the labs go public.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) sit on opposite sides of that same concentration risk. Nvidia supplies the chips every AI lab needs regardless of who wins, while Palantir is betting that companies want to reduce their reliance on any single AI lab altogether.

Bull Case

Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)'s results argue against it being just another concentration bet. Revenue rose 93% to $1.94 billion last quarter, beating the $1.80 billion expected. Palantir raised full-year guidance to $8.15-$8.158 billion, its largest-ever raise, the company said. U.S. commercial revenue grew 149% to $764 million, showing broad-based demand.

Palantir's sovereignty pitch carries real weight beyond marketing. CEO Alex Karp wrote that "our customers have declined to become vassal states of the language labs. Karp joined other tech leaders urging the government not to restrict open-weight AI models, widening customer choice beyond the two labs Eisman flagged.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)'s chips stay necessary no matter which lab wins. Every hyperscaler, OpenAI, Anthropic, and any challenger still needs Nvidia hardware. Eisman's warning centers on the labs' finances, not Nvidia's chip business itself.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) has moved to insulate itself from the concentration risk critics describe. It signed deals with Apollo, Blackstone, BlackRock, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs, and KKR to mobilize over $500 billion in third-party AI financing, with CEO Jensen Huang capping Nvidia's exposure at roughly 25% per project.

Nvidia is also generating real cash, not just accounting growth: close to $48 billion in free cash flow last quarter, with room to absorb a slowdown at any one customer.

Bear Case

Michael Burry argues Nvidia's own customer base carries a version of Eisman's concentration risk. He has focused on Nvidia's reliance on a small group of hyperscale customers, including Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Alphabet, warning a pullback from even one could meaningfully hurt revenue.

Burry has also flagged a circular financing web tying Nvidia to those same customers. A Bloomberg analysis he cited traces roughly $46 billion in equity stakes and $879 billion in purchase commitments among Microsoft, Oracle, Amazon, Google, Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, CoreWeave, Nvidia, and AMD, including a $300 billion Oracle-OpenAI commitment. Nvidia's five-year credit default swap spread has roughly doubled in two months.

Eisman's warning has a direct line to Nvidia even if unnamed. A Chinese-driven price war hitting OpenAI and Anthropic's economics could push hyperscalers to pull back the capex that buys Nvidia's chips in the first place.

Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) carries its own concentration and expectation risk. U.S. government revenue hit $809 million, nearly matching commercial revenue and tying results to federal budgets. If federal spending slows, Palantir could face a more direct revenue risk than its commercial growth numbers suggest. Karp called his 18-month growth target "a very high goal," which any slowdown could hit a stock priced for constant acceleration.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)'s own rebuttal shows the debate is unresolved, not settled. It sent analysts a memo denying vendor financing, first reported by Barron's, but Burry and other short sellers have publicly rejected that explanation.

Insider Monkey's Hedge Fund Data

Nvidia was held by 275 hedge funds as of Q1 2026, up from 264. Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) was held by 96, up from 89.

Conclusion

Eisman's warning targets the hyperscalers, not NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) or Palantir directly. But both stocks are opposite bets on how that risk resolves: Nvidia is needed regardless of the winner yet financially entangled with both labs, Palantir is diversifying away from labs yet carrying its own growth and government-revenue risk.

While we acknowledge the potential of PLTR as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on thebest short-term AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.