① The "Situational Awareness" fund managed by Wall Street prodigy Leopold Aschenbrenner released its first-quarter U.S. stock portfolio adjustment report, with the market value surging from $5.52 billion in the previous quarter to $13.7 billion; ② During the first quarter, the fund heavily shorted chip manufacturers by purchasing put options worth $8.46 billion, while continuing to significantly invest in energy and AI infrastructure.
Cailian Press, May 19th (edited by Liu Rui) – On Monday Eastern Time, the much-anticipated Wall Street prodigy, 24-year-old Leopold Aschenbrenner, who manages the fund "Situational Awareness LP," finally released its first-quarter U.S. stock portfolio adjustment report (Form 13F).
As we previously reported, Leopold Aschenbrenner, the youngest manager of a massive global fund, foresaw the importance of AI infrastructure logistics as early as 2024, making substantial investments in power, land, and infrastructure sectors, which propelled his fund's rapid expansion within less than two years of its establishment.
This long-awaited report shows that the market value of the fund managed by Leopold Aschenbrenner has surged from $5.52 billion in the previous quarter to $13.7 billion – and just under two years ago, the initial management scale of this fund was only $255 million.
Such a meteoric rise in assets under management indicates that the "Situational Awareness" fund has become a highly sought-after star fund on Wall Street – indeed, over recent quarters, Leopold Aschenbrenner’s portfolio adjustments have become one of the most closely watched reference points for both institutional and retail investors on Wall Street.
Let us take a closer look at what moves this new star of Wall Street made in the first quarter of this year.
Heavy purchases of short positions in chip manufacturers
According to this portfolio adjustment report, the most notable move made by Leopold Aschenbrenner in the first quarter was heavily shorting chip manufacturers.
By the end of the first quarter, the fund had purchased put options with a notional value of up to $8.46 billion, covering stocks of numerous chip manufacturers, including a $2 billion put option position in NVIDIA and another major position in an artificial intelligence giant.$VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH.US)$The $2 billion put options held, as well as the stake in the AI giant$NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$of $1.6 billion in put options.
Major purchases of put options targeting the chip sector.
In addition, the fund also established positions in$Broadcom (AVGO.US)$、$Oracle (ORCL.US)$、 $Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US)$ 、$Micron Technology (MU.US)$、$ASML Holding (ASML.US)$、 $Intel (INTC.US)$ 、$Corning (GLW.US)$and$Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM.US)$put option positions.
These bearish options were not only among the top five purchases made by the fund in the first quarter but have also become one of its top five holdings. This undoubtedly highlights Leopold Aschenbrenner's pessimistic outlook on chip stocks.
However, Leopold Aschenbrenner is not entirely bearish on all chip stocks.
In the first quarter of this year, the fund slightly increased its position by 80,000 shares in the storage giant,$SanDisk (SNDK.US)$and established call options worth $380 million in SanDisk, possibly indicating an expectation that the storage boom will continue and that the fund is making selective bets within the semiconductor industry.
Still heavily invested in energy and AI infrastructure.
As of the end of the first quarter, Bloom Energy$Bloom Energy (BE.US)$ remains Aschenbrenner's largest individual stock bullish bet, with his fund holding 6.5 million shares $Bloom Energy (BE.US)$ worth $879 million and holding 409,000 call options on Bloom Energy, with a notional value of $55 million.
In addition, Situational Awareness increased its stake in cryptocurrency mining/data center operator$CleanSpark (CLSK.US)$、$Riot Platforms (RIOT.US)$、$Applied Digital (APLD.US)$and $IREN Ltd (IREN.US)$ .
As we previously analyzed, Aschenbrenner’s bet on $Crypto Mining (LIST23921.US)$ is not for cryptocurrency speculation but rather for the ready-made land, electricity, and grid permits that these mining firms possess. Against the backdrop of large-scale AI infrastructure expansion, these resources equate to 'ready-to-use' AI infrastructure, saving several years of approval time.
A belated 13F report
Notably, Aschenbrenner's 13F filing was originally due last Friday—according to regulations, all institutional investment management firms holding more than $100 million in securities must submit this disclosure document to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission within 45 days after the end of the quarter—but Situational Awareness did not file the report until Monday morning this week.
Typically, late or missed 13F filings may lead to discretionary civil penalties imposed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, with fines ranging from minor amounts to a maximum of $750,000.
However, investors' attention will undoubtedly remain focused on Aschenbrenner's specific portfolio adjustments.
Overall, although he significantly established a position in semiconductor put options during the first quarter, his fund still holds a large number of highly volatile technology stocks and continues to make selective investments in the fields of computing, memory, and data center infrastructure. This portfolio adjustment may serve as a valuable reference for investors.
Editor/Rocky