AI-Focused Hedge Fund with Situational Awareness Liquidates Entire Public Equity Portfolio

Huo Xing Cai Jing reports, according to CNBC, that Situational Awareness, an AI-themed hedge fund founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, sold its entire public equity portfolio in a single transaction to another hedge fund prior to Thursday’s market open; the buyer has not been disclosed. The fund also sold a significant portion of its stake in Anthropic. With assets under management of approximately $20 billion to $24 billion, the fund achieved a net return of 439% as of the end of June, making it one of the top-performing hedge funds this year. According to sources familiar with the matter, the liquidation followed substantial losses in recent weeks. The fund held long positions in AI infrastructure and semiconductor stocks such as SK Hynix, NVIDIA, Micron, and CoreWeave, most of which declined more than 35% this month. Meanwhile, its short positions in software stocks like Adobe also moved sharply against it. According to its March 31 13F filing, approximately 62% of its $13.68 billion portfolio consisted of put options betting on declines in semiconductor and technology stocks. It is reported that major prime brokers including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan are assisting the fund in meeting margin calls or facilitating an orderly wind-down. Aschenbrenner has approached existing investors and lenders for new capital.