MU, NVDA, ORCL, NBIS: AI Stocks In Focus As Situational Awareness Reportedly Seeks Fresh Investment After July Rout

• Earlier reports said Situational Awareness recently sold the bulk of its stock portfolio to Ken Griffin’s Citadel.
• Former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner launched Situational Awareness after leaving OpenAI in 2024.
• Chip and AI stocks, the bulk of the fund’s holdings, unraveled in July as investors locked in profits following a sharp rally through last month.

Situational Awareness, the $20 billion hedge fund founded by former OpenAI employee Leopold Aschenbrenner, has reportedly sought to raise fresh capital from investors after suffering heavy losses during the recent rout in AI stocks.

The development comes close on the heels of reports saying that the fund recently sold the bulk of its stock portfolio to Ken Griffin’s Citadel.

Situational Awareness has held discussions with existing investors and lenders in recent days seeking to raise new capital, The Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing people briefed on the matter. 

The fund had also offered some investors the option to buy assets in its portfolio, the report said, adding that talks appear to be ad hoc rather than a co-ordinated effort.

How Big Were Situational Awareness’ AI Bets?

Aschenbrenner launched Situational Awareness after leaving OpenAI in 2024 and built up sizable holdings in Bloom Energy, SanDisk, CoreWeave, IREN, and Core Scientific, reflecting the fund’s heavy focus on AI infrastructure and data center-related companies. 

But the fund sustained a sharp fall in value amid intense market swings in recent weeks, prompting it to unwind the bulk of its positions, according to reports. Situational Awareness’s latest 13F filing showed 42 disclosed holdings valued at about $13.68 billion, excluding cash and other assets.

According to reports, its holdings also covered the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH), Nvidia, Oracle, Broadcom and AMD, CoreWeave (CRWV), Core Scientific Applied Digital, and SK Hynix. 

Chip Selloff

The chip and AI trade unraveled in July as investors locked in profits following a sharp rally through last month and rotated capital into Big Tech and software stocks. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) has declined 21% in the month so far, and is on track for its worst monthly move since December 2002. Chip stocks rose sharply on Thursday.

In a letter sent to investors on July 24 presenting the fund’s half-year results, Aschenbrenner acknowledged that the fund had “not been immune” to the market ructions, particularly in Asia, but argued that the tech sell-off had created some of the most attractive investment opportunities since early 2025.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for NVDA, ORCL and MU was ‘bullish’ and the sentiment for NBIS was ‘extremely bullish’ as of early Friday.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

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