Aschenbrenner Fund Unwinds $1 Billion AI Portfolio, Stocks Rally

Situational Awareness LP, founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, built its investment thesis around the physical constraints on artificial-intelligence growth. The fund argued that electricity supply and data-center capacity, rather than chips alone, would determine how quickly AI computing could scale. That led it to back power-rich operators, including former bitcoin miners shifting toward AI and high-performance computing, making any large portfolio unwind consequential for the broader infrastructure trade.

On July 30, 2026, the fund was reported to have liquidated an AI-infrastructure portfolio valued at about $1 billion, helping trigger sharp rebounds in IREN, Core Scientific and related shares as forced selling appeared to subside. Its March 31 regulatory filing valued the IREN position at roughly $401 million and Core Scientific at about $389 million, or nearly $790 million combined. The rally reflected relief over the removal of a major technical overhang rather than a newly announced operating development at the companies.