Former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner’s $20-billion AI-focused fund is unwinding public equity bets as the sector’s recent selloff takes its toll.

  • Situational Awareness had amassed more than $20 billion in assets by making concentrated, leveraged bets on AI and semiconductor companies.
  • The portfolio was heavily exposed to AI infrastructure and chip names, including Nvidia, Oracle, AMD, Broadcom and CoreWeave.
  • Despite the sector-wide pullback, Stocktwits retail sentiment remains broadly bullish across major AI and semiconductor stocks.

Situational Awareness, the artificial intelligence-focused hedge fund led by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, has reportedly sold the bulk of its public stock portfolio to Ken Griffin’s Citadel after suffering steep losses during the recent AI stock selloff.

Aschenbrenner’s fund has been seeking buyers for its holdings and raising fresh capital as losses mounted amid a broader retreat in AI-linked stocks.

AI Rout Forces Portfolio Sale

Situational Awareness has been liquidating public equities after suffering losses in the AI stock rout in recent weeks, reported The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter.

Founded around two years ago, Situational Awareness quickly amassed well over $20 billion in assets under management. Aschenbrenner was widely viewed as an AI oracle, with investors closely tracking the firm's moves as it placed large, leveraged bets on AI-related companies, reported WSJ.

Situational Awareness continues to hold its private investments, including a stake in AI startup Anthropic, the WSJ report stated. Meanwhile, multi-strategy hedge-fund Millennium Management and Jane Street Group were among those that considered buying the portfolio but ultimately did not participate, according to a Bloomberg report.

AI Holdings Under Pressure

AI-linked stocks have come under pressure in recent weeks as investors question whether the sector’s lofty valuations can be sustained. Shares of Nvidia (NVDA), Oracle (ORCL), Micron Technology (MU), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Nebius Group (NBIS) and SanDisk (SNDK) have fallen over the past month, reportedly prompting Situational Awareness to seek additional capital after suffering losses tied to the sector-wide selloff.

Situational Awareness’s latest 13F filing showed 42 disclosed holdings valued at about $13.68 billion, excluding cash and other assets. Its largest positions included the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH), Nvidia, Oracle, Broadcom (AVGO) and AMD, alongside AI infrastructure companies such as CoreWeave (CRWV), Core Scientific (CORZ), Bloom Energy (BE), IREN (IREN) and Applied Digital (APLD). According to *Bloomberg*, the fund also held SK Hynix, which debuted on a U.S. exchange earlier this month.

NVDA, ORCL, MU, AMD, NBIS, SNDK: Retail Sentiment

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for NVDA, ORCL and MU was ‘bullish’ with ‘high’ message volume. Sentiment for AMD and NBIS was ‘extremely bullish,’ also with ‘high’ message volume. The sentiment for SNDK was also ‘extremely bullish,’ while message volume was ‘extremely high.’

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.<