Situational Awareness LP, an artificial intelligence-focused hedge fund founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, is seeking to raise additional capital from investors as semiconductor and AI stocks experience a sharp sell-off. The move comes at a notable juncture: the fund holds the largest publicly disclosed short position against the very companies that have driven the semiconductor boom, according to the Financial Times. Rather than concentrating its investments in chip-producing companies, the fund has constructed a strategy designed to generate returns even as chip manufacturers decline.

A Short Book Targeting the AI Chip Trade

According to its Form 13F filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Situational Awareness LP disclosed a U.S. equity portfolio valued at $5.52 billion as of March 31, 2026. Under SEC rules, institutional investment managers overseeing at least $100 million in qualifying assets must file 13F reports quarterly, offering the public a window — albeit an incomplete one — into their long U.S. equity holdings and certain options positions. The filing revealed that the fund's positions were predominantly tied to put options totaling $8.7 billion across semiconductor and AI sector companies. Put options confer the right to sell a security at a predetermined price, gaining value when the underlying stock falls, making them a common instrument for expressing bearish views or hedging against declines. These included $2.04 billion in put options on the VanEck Semiconductor ETF and $1.57 billion on Nvidia (NVDA). The fund also allocated more than $1 billion in put options on companies including Oracle (ORCL), Broadcom (AVGO), and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

The long portfolio, however, tells a markedly different story. Rather than taking long positions in chip manufacturers, the fund directed its investments toward firms connected to AI infrastructure. Bloom Energy (BE), a hydrogen fuel cell and power generation company, was the largest reported long position at $879 million, followed by SanDisk (SNDK) and CoreWeave. The fund also took positions in several bitcoin mining companies, including IREN, Core Scientific, Riot, and CleanSpark, as reported by Blockspace. Mining firms have drawn attention from AI investors because many operate or control large-scale, power-dense facilities that can be repurposed or co-located for AI computing workloads, positioning them at the intersection of energy and data center demand.

The fund increased several of these mining-company investments during the quarter, suggesting a conviction that power generation and data center infrastructure will benefit from AI's continued expansion, rather than relying solely on the prospects of semiconductor companies.

A Single Session's Cost

On July 28, an unverified X account, @LeopoldTracker_, posted an estimate that Aschenbrenner's portfolio had declined approximately $600 million in a single trading session, driven primarily by sharp drops in Bloom Energy and SanDisk. Cryptopolitan could not independently confirm this figure.

Leopold Aschenbrenner's fund has lost roughly $600,000,000 in a single session today But he's still up over 1,000% on most of these positions from his entry and his puts are printing: • Bloom Energy, $BE , -$210,000,000 (-14.9%) • SanDisk, $SNDK , -$180,000,000 (-11.0%) • Core… pic.twitter.com/apL862fyLH — Leopold Stock Tracker (@LeopoldTracker_) July 28, 2026

This estimate carries significant caveats. Form 13F filings capture only certain U.S.-listed equity assets and options held as of the end of a given quarter. They do not include cash, derivatives, short positions, foreign securities, or private investments, and therefore provide an incomplete picture of a hedge fund's overall exposure or day-to-day gains and losses.

According to the same tracker, the fund's substantial put positions may have appreciated as chip company valuations declined, potentially offsetting losses in the long portfolio. While public disclosures alone cannot confirm the fund's actual results, the dynamic illustrates a hedged approach that differs fundamentally from simply going long on AI stocks.

OpenAI Alum's Billion-Dollar Bet

Aschenbrenner first attracted widespread attention in June 2024 with the release of his 165-page essay, Situational Awareness: The Decade Ahead. In it, he argued that artificial general intelligence would likely emerge by 2027 and trigger an "intelligence explosion" — a scenario in which AI systems rapidly surpass human capabilities and, in turn, accelerate their own development — driving massive increases in spending on GPUs, data centers, and electricity while intensifying the technological rivalry between the United States and China.

He launched Situational Awareness LP in September 2024 around that investment thesis. The firm's website describes it as a global equity investor focused on AI as "the dominant driver of global market returns over the next decade." His transition from AI safety research to hedge fund management came after his reported departure from OpenAI, where he had been part of the organization's policy and safety-adjacent work.

The thesis resonated with investors. By October 2025, Fortune reported that the fund had surpassed $1.5 billion in assets under management — a striking achievement for a first-time fund manager in his twenties who had previously worked at OpenAI and at Sam Bankman-Fried's charitable foundation. Supporters characterized him as an early adopter in AI infrastructure investing, while critics noted that the strategy could be overly dependent on sustained interest in the sector.

Why the Capital Raise Matters as a Market Signal

The fund's positioning reflects a perspective that is becoming increasingly relevant as AI-related investments evolve. While Aschenbrenner has expressed publicly optimistic views about AI's long-term trajectory, he has simultaneously placed heavy short bets against semiconductor companies that fueled the sector's surge, while championing power suppliers, infrastructure firms, and bitcoin miners.

Raising new capital during a semiconductor downturn signals conviction that further correction in chip stocks may lie ahead, even as investment in AI infrastructure continues to grow.

More broadly, the portfolio highlights a challenge that investors may increasingly confront: belief in the rise of AI does not guarantee that every segment of the AI supply chain will perform well simultaneously. Capital may shift from purchasing GPUs toward power generation, networking, and data center capacity, broadening the leadership group in the AI sector beyond chip manufacturers.