The $5B bets that went spectacularly wrong for tech bro before he lost $30B overnight

Leopold Aschenbrenner's Situational Awareness hedge fund lost roughly $30 billion in July after its two largest bets, a $5.7 billion stake in SanDisk and a $5.6 billion stake in Micron Technology, plunged 47% and 29% respectively, triggering margin calls and a fire sale to Ken Griffin's Citadel. The fund shrank from about $45 billion to $10 billion, though it remained up sharply for the year after returning 439% in the first half of 2026.

The $5B bets that went spectacularly wrong for tech bro before he lost $30B overnight See more of our coverage in your search results. Add The California Post on Google https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=nypost.com The “Nostradamus of AI” made a pair of $5 billion bets — only to watch his $45 billion hedge fund implode days before his lavish California wedding https://nypost.com/2026/08/02/us-news/tech-bros-ai-fund-collapses-days-before-lavish-california-wedding/ . Leopold Aschenbrenner’s Situational Awareness fund held a $5.7 billion stake in SanDisk and $5.6 billion in Micron Technology at the end of June, according to quarterly filings. The two bets made up more than half of his US stock portfolio, which had ballooned from less than $4 billion to more than $20 billion during the second quarter. Then the wheels came off. SanDisk shares plunged 47% in July, while Micron tumbled 29%, helping wipe out roughly 67% of the fund’s portfolio value in a single month. The losses triggered margin calls and forced Situational Awareness to sell billions of dollars of holdings in a fire sale to billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel. Bloom Energy, the fund’s next-largest holding, accounted for nearly 10% of the portfolio and also plunged 31% during the month. Aschenbrenner had also sharply increased his positions in TSMC and opened a $1.2 billion position in Nebius before those stocks fell alongside the broader AI trade. The carnage shrank Situational Awareness from roughly $45 billion to about $10 billion — though the fund remained up sharply for the year after reportedly returning 439% during the first half of 2026. The disastrous bets also reportedly cost Wall Street trading giant Jane Street nearly $15 billion https://nypost.com/2026/08/14/business/nostradamus-of-ai-blamed-for-massive-15b-loss-at-secretive-trading-giant-jane-street/ . Aschenbrenner, 24, has become one of Silicon Valley’s most closely watched AI thinkers. He graduated from Columbia University at 19 and later worked at Sam Bankman-Fried’s now-defunct FTX https://nypost.com/2026/06/12/business/sam-bankman-fried-loses-bid-to-overturn-crypto-fraud-conviction/ before joining OpenAI in 2023. He was fired the following year after allegedly leaking sensitive information to an Anthropic executive’s husband. Aschenbrenner quickly rebuilt his reputation with his 165-page essay, “ Situational Awareness: The Decade Ahead https://situational-awareness.ai/ ,” which predicted artificial general intelligence could arrive by 2027 and warned of the geopolitical threat posed by superintelligent AI. His hedge fund launched in 2024. The spectacular collapse came just days before Aschenbrenner’s lavish California wedding. Earlier this month, the AI investing wunderkind made headlines once more for placing big bets again https://nypost.com/2026/08/07/business/nostradamus-of-ai-leopold-aschenbrenner-leaps-back-into-big-bets-in-latest-twist-after-spectacular-blow-up/ , less than a week after his much-watched hedge fund Situational Awareness saw a spectacular blow-up. Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters California Post News : Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheCaliforniaPost/ , Instagram https://www.instagram.com/californiapost , TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@CaliforniaPost , X https://x.com/californiapost , YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@thecaliforniapost , WhatsApp https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vb6a2IV1NCrL6q2AWq0E , LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/company/californiapost California Post Sports Facebook https://www.facebook.com/capostsports/ , Instagram https://www.instagram.com/capostsports/?hl=en , TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@capostsports , YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@CaliforniaPostSports , X https://x.com/capostsports California Post Opinion https://x.com/californiapost California Post Newsletters : Sign up here https://email.nypost.com/ california-post California Post App : Download here https://apps.apple.com/us/app/california-post/id6751343487 Home delivery : Sign up here https://subscribe.californiapost.com/defaultCAP Page Six Hollywood : Sign up here https://pagesix.com/hollywood-signup/