Short seller targets AI server maker 2CRSi

AI-related short selling is ramping up, with Grizzly Research’s report the latest example.

French AI server manufacturer 2CRSi has become the latest company caught in the crosshairs of a short seller as investors increasingly scrutinize businesses benefiting from the artificial intelligence boom.

In a Thursday report, Grizzly Research accused the company of inflating revenues and fabricating portions of its reported growth by routing business through entities with close ties to company insiders while failing to adequately disclose those relationships to investors.

Earlier this month, 2CRSi reaffirmed its €200 million ($230 million) annual revenue target, while highlighting strong demand for AI infrastructure solutions following several substantial AI server orders in the U.S. in recent years.

Grizzly argues that investors should be skeptical of those growth claims. The report claims that several counterparties involved in major transactions appear to have relationships with company insiders that were not fully disclosed.

The short seller used this to question how accurate 2CRSi’s assessment of underlying commercial demand actually is.

2CRSi had not publicly responded to the allegations at the time of publication.

Whether Grizzly's claims ultimately prove accurate may take months or even years to determine. Yet the report highlights a broader trend of short sellers increasingly targeting companies linked to the AI investment boom.

One of the highest-profile examples came last year when Culper Research launched a short campaign against ad-tech company AppLovin.

Among other allegations, Culper argued that the company's AI-driven growth narrative was overstated and questioned the sustainability of its business model. AppLovin strongly disputed the allegations, but the report triggered significant debate among investors over how AI-related businesses should be valued.

Elsewhere, footwear company Allbirds drew attention after rebranding itself as NewBird AI in April this year, a move that many market participants viewed as an attempt to capitalize on investor enthusiasm surrounding artificial intelligence.

The change in direction prompted a 582% stock jump, but now that most of those gains have been reversed short sellers view the company as a prime target for fake AI bets, citing a fundamental disconnect between its previous footwear business and its new GPU-as-a-Service model.

The episodes reflect growing concerns that some companies may be using AI branding to attract investor interest regardless of the technology's actual contribution to their business.

Meanwhile, enterprise AI software provider C3.ai has attracted significant short interest in recent months, with bearish investors questioning whether its growth prospects and valuation are justified by underlying financial performance. As of May 2026, short sellers had positioned against more than 44% of the company’s public float.

Taken together, the cases suggest that a new phase of the AI investment cycle may be emerging.

The early stages of the boom were largely characterized by enthusiasm surrounding the technology's transformative potential. Increasingly, however, investors are shifting their focus toward execution, governance, revenue quality, and the sustainability of growth claims.

That shift is creating opportunities for short sellers to weed out the AI fakes from the legitimate players.

For investors, the challenge is separating legitimate concerns from opportunistic attacks.

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