Six weeks after a significant market downturn impacted his hedge fund, Situational Awareness, former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner has resumed investments in AI-related companies. Reports indicate the fund recently acquired call options on AMD, Bloom Energy, CoreWeave, SK Hynix, and SanDisk.
The fund previously experienced a sharp decline in assets, dropping from a peak of over $45 billion to approximately $10 billion in July. This volatility was exacerbated by the use of borrowed capital, which led to margin calls the firm could not satisfy. During this period, Citadel acquired some of the fund's distressed holdings.
Aschenbrenner’s current strategy utilizes call options, which limit potential losses to the initial purchase cost when not bought on margin. The fund maintains its private investments, including a stake in Anthropic. Meanwhile, the SEC has issued subpoenas to Wall Street banks regarding their past dealings with the hedge fund.
Market reaction to the recent activity has been mixed. Following the trades, Bloom Energy shares rose nearly 7 percent, while AMD saw an increase of almost 3 percent. Conversely, shares of SanDisk and CoreWeave experienced declines. It remains unconfirmed whether the new positions are funded by remaining cash or new capital.
