Knicks' 2026 finals return triggers 1999 dot-com parallels as AI trade fuels ^SOX surge

Michael Burry, the investor known for calling the 2008 housing crash, warned on May 30, 2026 that markets resemble the final months of the 1999-2000 dot-com bubble, with AI and semiconductor stocks at the center of the concern. The warning coincides with the New York Knicks reaching the NBA finals for the first time since 1999, a coincidence Wall Street cannot entirely dismiss. The PHLX Semiconductor Index (^SOX), a proxy for AI infrastructure spending, has more than tripled from its April 2025 low, propelled by chip demand and data center build-outs. While the move trails the late-1990s internet index's nearly ninefold run before collapsing, it has pushed some valuations beyond dot-com-era peaks — Intel (INTC) recently blasted through its year-2000 ceiling. Burry's caution highlights a familiar risk: transformative technology can still be wildly overpriced. Nasdaq's current winners are already outpacing their 2000 counterparts, reinforcing that a trade can be right, early, and too expensive all at once.