Situational Awareness hedge fund reported a 270% return through May 2026 while managing $20 billion in assets. The firm’s focus on physical infrastructure rather than AI software powered the surge. It now holds a massive stake in Anthropic and significant chip stock shorts.
Founder's Unconventional Path
Leopold Aschenbrenner started the fund at 23 after leaving OpenAI. He’s just 24 now. Jane Street invested early. The ex-researcher built this $20 billion machine in under two years. That’s not many funds can claim.
Power Over Promises
The fund skipped AI software plays entirely. It bought electricity and computing infrastructure instead. Bloom Energy and CoreWeave are major holdings. So are repurposed Bitcoin mining centers now running AI workloads. The team saw the hardware demand coming. It paid off.
Anthropic’s Meteoric Ride
The firm holds a private Anthropic stake worth $965 billion by May 2026. They bought in February 2025 when it was valued at $60 billion. That single position now makes up 20% of the fund’s total assets. The valuation jump was explosive. It drove much of this year’s gains.
Shorts and Stress Points
Situational Awareness holds $1.5 billion in short positions against Nvidia. Another $2 billion targets a chip stock basket. The fund’s strategy hinges on sustained AI infrastructure demand. Any slowdown in data center buildouts could reverse fortunes quickly. Electricity shortages make or break this thesis.
The next performance report is due July 15. That’s when we’ll see if the physical infrastructure bet holds up.
