The Blubber

Soros Fund Management, the asset manager for billionaire George Soros' Open Society Foundations, has sold its 10,000 shares in Nvidia, $NVDA, and added 80,000 shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufactoring Company, $TSMC.

In the third quarter, Michael Burry, the hedge fund manager famous for his bets against the U.S. housing market depicted in "The Big Short," expanded his bearish options position on semiconductors, as per securities filings released on Tuesday. This move coincided with other investors reducing their exposure to the semiconductor sector.

Burry, portrayed in the film, closed out his bearish options against the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, as indicated by the filings. Scion Asset Management, his firm, initiated a significant new position by acquiring bearish options on an exchange-traded fund focused on semiconductors. The filing revealed the purchase of put options with a notional value of $47.4 million against the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX.O), which has seen a 45.37% increase year-to-date.

Notional value refers to the total value of the underlying securities controlled by options contracts, and it differs from the price paid for the contracts or their actual present value. Although the actual present value was not disclosed in the filing, it is likely to be a smaller figure.

The filings also disclosed that Burry's fund no longer held puts on the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500. In the second quarter, the firm held put options with a notional value of $739 million against the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ.O) and separate put options with a notional value of $886 million against the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY.P).

While the S&P 500 fell 3.6% in the third quarter and the Nasdaq 100 was down 3%, it remains unclear how Burry's options position performed, as the filings do not require the disclosure of options strikes, purchase prices, and expiration dates. Additionally, the disclosure only covers long positions, leaving it uncertain whether the positions were held outright or against other contracts.

Other notable investors also made changes in the semiconductor sector. Soros Fund Management sold its 10,000 shares in Nvidia (NVDA.O) and added 80,000 shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), listed in the U.S. Hedge fund Man Group sold its 1.1 million shares in Nvidia, while Renaissance Technologies LLC liquidated its entire stake in the company. Tiger Global Management and Eisler Capital increased their stake in Nvidia. Man Group and Duquesne Family Office liquidated their entire stake in TSMC, according to filings.

TSMC's depositary receipts increased by 32.8% this year but fell nearly 14% in the third quarter. Nvidia's shares surged 240% year-to-date, with a 2.8% increase in the last quarter.