Leopold Aschenbrenner's hedge fund Situational Awareness has reportedly sold most of its public stock holdings to Citadel after a sharp drop in recent weeks, but it continues to hold a valuable position in Anthropic.
Founded in 2024 by the former OpenAI researcher, the fund quickly drew attention for its bold thesis: the rise of artificial intelligence would drive long-term demand for semiconductors, computing power, memory, and energy infrastructure. That view helped fuel strong early gains, with the portfolio posting standout returns through midyear before AI infrastructure shares cooled.
Aschenbrenner, who joined OpenAI's superalignment team in 2023 after graduating from Columbia at 19, built his reputation through essays on the scale of future AI investment needs. After leaving OpenAI, he launched the fund with backing from well-known names in finance and tech.
According to recent reports, the fund's public-market exposure was hit by declines in names tied to AI infrastructure, including memory chips, clean energy, and cloud capacity. Citadel's purchase of the bulk of those positions brought Situational Awareness' assets down to about $10 billion, though the firm still retains private investments.
The most notable of those is its Anthropic stake, now valued at roughly $5 billion. With Anthropic attracting major investor interest and preparing for a possible public debut, that holding could become a key source of future value for the fund. Situational Awareness also remains invested in chipmaker MatX and data center startup Fluidstack.
The episode highlights how quickly AI-focused capital can shift between public and private markets, and how conviction in foundational infrastructure may continue to shape the next phase of the sector's growth.
