AI investor Leopold Aschenbrenner forced to unwind all public stock positions after steep losses, sources say

Leopold Aschenbrenner and his hedge fund, Situational Awareness, have liquidated their entire public stock portfolio. This move follows weeks of heavy losses tied to the firm's concentrated bets on artificial intelligence infrastructure and energy stocks. The fund, which managed up to 45 billion dollars earlier this summer, faced significant pressure from prime brokers to meet margin requirements after a decline in the value of key holdings like SK Hynix and short positions in software companies turned against them.

Ken Griffin’s Citadel has stepped in to acquire the assets as the fund works to resolve its financial position. The liquidation marks a difficult period for the firm, which gained significant attention for its thesis that the growth of powerful AI systems would necessitate an massive expansion in data centers and semiconductor manufacturing. While the firm was previously looking at potential sales of other assets, reports about a sale of their stake in Anthropic remain unconfirmed.

Aschenbrenner founded the firm after his departure from OpenAI in 2024. He quickly established himself as a prominent voice in tech investment circles by arguing that hardware bottlenecks would dictate the speed of AI advancement. Current market volatility, however, has proven that the path for this specific investment thesis contains significant risks.

Major financial institutions including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America have been coordinating with the fund to manage the sale of holdings. The situation remains active as the firm navigates the fallout from these recent market shifts and works to satisfy outstanding margin obligations.