Hedge Fund Packed $11bn into Micron, Sandisk Before July Rout
Situational Awareness held about $11bn in Micron and Sandisk-about a quarter of its assets-on June 30, before a July selloff that cut Micron about 29% and Sandisk about 47%.
Regulatory filings dated June 30 show Situational Awareness held roughly $11 billion in combined positions in Micron Technology and Sandisk, about 25% of the fund’s net assets at that date. The fund is highly leveraged and was founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner.
The filings indicate the fund increased direct holdings in Micron and Sandisk during the second quarter while reducing options exposure tied to Nvidia, Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices.
In July, Micron shares fell about 29% and Sandisk shares fell about 47%. Those declines produced large losses on the fund’s technology and chip investments and prompted sales of public equities.
Following the selloff, Citadel acquired a substantial portion of Situational Awareness’s AI-related stock holdings.
Because Micron and Sandisk represented roughly a quarter of net assets, swings in memory-chip prices had a major effect on the fund’s portfolio. The earlier reductions in options on several AI beneficiaries did not prevent the losses when semiconductor shares tumbled.
The filings show the portfolio changes occurred shortly before the sharp reversal in semiconductor and AI-related stocks and that the fund had concentrated positions in companies supplying infrastructure for artificial intelligence.
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