Lisp machines, Transputers, Transmeta, even RISC were all academic-driven bubbles. They were spun out of university research projects. (Transmeta went indirectly via Bell Labs and Sun, but it was still based on academic ideas.)

The culture was nerdy, and the product promises were too abstract to make sense outside of Nerdania.

They were fundamentally different to the dot com bubble, which was hype-driven, back when "You can shop online!" was a novelty.

The current AI bubble is an interesting hybrid. The tech is wobbly research-grade, but it's been hyped by a cut-throat marketing engine aimed at very specific pain points - addictive social contact for younger proles, "auto-marketing team" for marketers, and "cut staffing and make more money" promises for management.