Yang Dong explicitly compared the current AI mania to the 2007 Chinese stock market peak, which he famously called. His track record on that call gives his warning significant weight among Chinese investors . He described the rally as disconnected from fundamentals, with valuations driven by speculative fever rather than sustainable earnings growth . As of June 2026, Wealspring managed more than $1.4 billion in assets .
Li Bei, founder of Shanghai Banxia Investment Management, warned investors in her June 2026 monthly report not to chase AI stocks, stating that "the trigger for the AI bubble to burst has already appeared" . Her warning was unusually direct: "If you want to use this money to chase AI, even if you scold me, I still have to advise you to be extremely cautious" .
Li Bei's primary evidence was Anthropic's revenue trajectory. She pointed out that Anthropic announced $47 billion in revenue on May 28, 2026, up from $44 billion on May 1 — a month-on-month growth rate of less than 10%. She questioned whether such deceleration could sustain the valuations priced into the broader AI sector .
Despite significant underperformance in her own fund — the net equity position had fallen to 50% as losses mounted in energy, real estate, and consumer sectors — Li Bei refused to rotate into AI . She characterized the AI chase as a dangerous "fear of missing out" dynamic reminiscent of past bubbles, noting that leading domestic demand stocks in China now trade at P/E ratios below 10x, in stark contrast to AI's elevated valuations .
Yang Dong and Li Bei were not alone. Several other high-profile investors had raised similar concerns:
A Bank of America survey of fund managers conducted in November 2025 found that, for the first time in 20 years, a net 20% of investors believed companies were "overinvesting" in capital expenditures, driven largely by AI spending .
The week the Chinese hedge fund warnings were published (June 22–26, 2026) saw a sharp and broad technology selloff across global markets :
NPR reported that the week's decline represented a "significant decline in technology stocks" that signaled "skepticism regarding the sustainability of the spending surge on AI" . The Nasdaq 100 fell 4.53% for the week, its worst performance in over a year .
Key takeaway: The warnings from Yang Dong and Li Bei landed exactly as global tech markets were experiencing their sharpest selloff in more than a year, with AI and semiconductor stocks at the epicenter of the rout. Whether this marks the beginning of a sustained correction or a temporary pullback in a longer AI boom remains an open question — but the chorus of skeptical voices from the top of the investing world has grown notably louder.