Learn Investing from the Pros | Wall Street Rising Star Leopold’s Holdings Revealed! Aggressively Buying Semiconductor PUTs, Adding to Western Digital, and Doubling Down on Energy and AI Infrastructure

Overnight, a 13F filing disclosed by Situational Awareness LP—the hedge fund founded by Leopold Aschenbrenner, a 24-year-old former OpenAI researcher and much-watched Wall Street newcomer—sparked widespread market discussion.

Previously,Learn Investing from the Pros | 24x Returns in 1 Year! Former OpenAI Star Goes to Wall Street—What Did He Load Up With Using $5.5 Billion?An earlier article highlighted Leopold Aschenbrenner’s background in detail; interested fellow investors can click to read it. This piece will focus on dissecting his moves in Q1.

Although this report arrived later than usual, its data was staggering: the assets under management of the fund run by Leopold Aschenbrenner exploded from $5.52 billion last quarter to $13.7 billion! Just under two years ago, the fund started with only $255 million.

What gives this Wall Street rising star such magnetic appeal? This article will deeply unpack the three core moves made by Situational Awareness LP in Q1 of this year.

💡 Key Highlights:

Maximum Defense: Aggressively bought $8.46 billion worth of put options on the semiconductor sector, with all top five holdings serving as downside protection.

Memory chip positioning:Taking a straddle options strategy on Micron Technology, betting on high volatility in memory chips.

Underlying Logic: Heavily betting on AI infrastructure and renewable energy under the thesis that 'the endgame of computing power is electricity.'

1. Semiconductor giants face 'epic-level' defensive hedging

Analyzing this portfolio rebalancing report, Leopold Aschenbrenner’s most notable move in Q1 was his aggressive short position in the semiconductor sector.

As of the end of Q1, the fund had accumulated put options with a notional value of $8.46 billion, covering a broad range of chipmakers—this wasn’t minor tweaking but a systematic sector-wide bearish stance.The fund’s top five holdings are now all newly established put option positions:

1. $VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH.US)$ PUT (Semiconductor ETF put option): Jumped to become the largest holding, accounting for 14.94% of the portfolio.

2. $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ PUT (NVIDIA put option): Second-largest position, accounting for 11.47%.

3. $Oracle (ORCL.US)$ PUT (Oracle put option): Accounting for 7.84%.

4. $Broadcom (AVGO.US)$ PUT (Broadcom put option): Accounting for 7.36%.

5. $Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US)$ PUT (Super Micro Computer put option): Accounting for 7.09%.

In addition, the fund has also established put option positions on $ASML Holding (ASML.US)$ 、 $Corning (GLW.US)$ and $Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM.US)$ and others.

Notably, while buying massive amounts of PUTs, the fund is also increasing its long positions in $Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US)$ 、 $VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH.US)$ 、 $Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM.US)$ 、 $ASML Holding (ASML.US)$ and other underlying equities.This indicates that Leopold is not entirely bearish on the semiconductor sector; instead, he is employing a classic hedging strategy—preserving upside potential while locking in downside protection for the high-flying semiconductor segment.

The most surprising move is the position in $Intel (INTC.US)$ Complete liquidation of CALL options (bullish options on Intel),an asset that held an absolutely core position, accounting for 13.54% of the portfolio in the previous quarter.

Similarly liquidated without mercy were the two leading optical communication companies $Lumentum (LITE.US)$ 、 $Coherent (COHR.US)$ , as well as the company hailed as the 'Taiwan Semiconductor of optical communication contract manufacturing', $Tower Semiconductor (TSEM.US)$ 。

II. Memory Sector: Refined Stock Selection and Volatility Play

While adopting a defensive stance toward the broader semiconductor sector, Leopold Aschenbrenner demonstrated a distinctly different investment approach in the memory chip segment.

Continued accumulation of Western Digital: In Q1, the fund further added a modest 80,000 shares of memory giant Western Digital's common stock and established bullish CALL option positions with a notional value of $380 million. $SanDisk (SNDK.US)$ This indicates the firm remains optimistic about the ongoing momentum in the memory sector, making structural long/short choices within semiconductors.

Micron Technology’s 'straddle play': Regarding $Micron Technology (MU.US)$ , the fund simultaneously increased its positions in both PUT and CALL options. This is a classicstraddle/strangle options strategyin options trading. This indicates that the fund anticipates significant price volatility for Micron Technology ahead—while the direction remains uncertain, substantial gains could be made whether the stock surges or plunges.

3. Core Thesis Remains Unchanged: Heavy Bets on 'AI Infrastructure' and 'Energy'

Rather than holding cash and waiting on the sidelines, Situational Awareness LP has precisely allocated capital into foundational infrastructure within targeted sectors.

1. Positioning in Neocloud and 'Mining-to-Compute' Transition Stocks

Leopold Aschenbrenner appears highly bullish on the Neocloud space and has notably added to positions in companies transitioning from mining operations. Although he reduced his $CoreWeave (CRWV.US)$ CALL position, he simultaneously added over one million shares of the underlying stock.

Interestingly, the fund also significantly increased stakes in a group ofCryptocurrency mining and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure-related stocks, including $HIVE Digital Technologies (HIVE.US)$、 $Riot Platforms (RIOT.US)$、 $CleanSpark (CLSK.US)$、 $IREN Ltd (IREN.US)$、 $Applied Digital (APLD.US)$and $Bitdeer Technologies Group (BTDR.US)$ This reflects its unique strategic positioning regarding the Bitcoin hash rate network or alternative computational infrastructure.

Moreover,It has also acquired AI cloud infrastructure integration $SharonAI Holdings (SHAZ.US)$，This company specializes in high-performance computing (HPC), with core businesses covering accelerated computing platforms, AI infrastructure, and cloud GPU services.

The company employs a flexible hybrid operational model, deploying resources not only in existing Tier III and Tier IV data centers but also actively developing its own large-scale dedicated data centers in strategic locations. Its platform deeply integrates compute power, storage, networking, and automation systems, primarily offering enterprise-grade AI computing infrastructure solutions as a one-stop service for AI labs, hyperscale cloud customers, academic research institutions, and regulated industries.

2. The ultimate limit of computing power is electricity

Against the backdrop of an 'electricity shortage' facing AI data centers, power infrastructure remains its core moat:

Furthermore, as of the end of the first quarter, despite reducing its holdings of fuel cell giant $Bloom Energy (BE.US)$ , it remains Aschenbrenner’s largest bullish equity bet, with its fund holding 6.5 million shares of Bloom Energy worth $879 million and 409,000 call options on Bloom Energy with a notional value of $55 million.

Previously, it also acquired $T1 Energy (TE.US)$ Originally known as the Norwegian battery startup FREYR, the company has now fully transformed into a U.S.-based solar module and battery energy storage manufacturer headquartered in Texas. Leveraging its leading mass production capabilities for P/N-type solar panels at its Texas G1 facility, the company has not only strategically positioned itself to benefit from U.S. policies promoting domestic supply chain reshoring but also directly tapped into the surging demand for reliable baseline power from AI mega data centers.

Summary

From $255 million to $13.7 billion, Leopold Aschenbrenner’s first-quarter positioning demonstrated maturity beyond his years. Rather than blindly chasing inflated valuations in the AI hardware bubble, he built a robust defensive position using large-scale options while precisely targeting the true chokepoints of the AI supply chain—computing infrastructure and underlying power supply. This 'dimensionality-reduction strike' by the 24-year-old former OpenAI core member has undoubtedly offered Wall Street a fresh perspective on AI investment narratives.

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