Short Squeeze AI Stocks : What the Data Actually Shows on $IONQ , $SMCI and $PLTR

Short interest across the AI and quantum complex runs from about 1% to 22% of float, and almost none of it is squeezable. Shayne Heffernan checks $NVDA, $GOOGL, $AMZN, $PLTR, $SMCI, $SPCX, $IONQ, $RGTI and $QBTS against the settlement data. The US equity market is carrying two incompatible stories at once. On the surface, capital is being deployed into artificial intelligence and quantum computing at a scale with no precedent. Underneath it sits a large population of short sellers betting that those valuations are a bubble with a date on it. The obvious question is whether the second group is trapped. Heavily shorted stocks in a rising sector are the classic setup for a squeeze, and the AI complex looks like it should qualify. So I went and checked, ticker by ticker, against the actual settlement data rather than the narrative. The answer is not the one the short squeeze thesis wants. Short interest across AI and quantum is genuinely elevated as a percentage of float, in some cases four to twenty times the level of the mega caps. But almost every one of these names fails the test that actually matters, which is whether the shorts can get out.…