Leopold Aschenbrenner resumes AI infrastructure bets via Situational Awareness

Leopold Aschenbrenner, the former OpenAI researcher and founder of the hedge fund Situational Awareness LP, has returned to the public markets with new options bets on artificial intelligence infrastructure. This move follows a significant drawdown in July, during which the fund’s assets reportedly fell from a peak of nearly $45 billion to approximately $10 billion after a 67% monthly loss triggered margin calls and forced liquidations.

Despite the summer volatility, Aschenbrenner remains focused on the physical backbone of AI. Recent trading activity includes large purchases of call options in companies such as AMD, CoreWeave, Bloom Energy, and SanDisk. The fund has also taken positions in South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix and the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM).

Situational Awareness was established in 2024 with $225 million in seed capital from prominent investors, including Stripe co-founders Patrick and John Collison, Nat Friedman, and Daniel Gross. The fund’s investment thesis centers on the massive demand for AI-related hardware, power generation, and semiconductor technology.