The alleged OpenAI information leaker Leopold Aschenbrenner has become an investing rising star since departing the company in 2024, as his Situational Awareness LP hedge fund has, in 2026, become a top-performer for its shareholders.
Specifically, the investment vehicle saw a substantial 61% increase in asset value in just two months, according to the data shared by Autopilot – a trading bot platform responsible for numerous popular automatic and copy-trading strategies – on X on May 1.
Update: Leopold is closing in on the big one
One week ago: $5,000,000
Today: $9,000,000The Leopold Aschenbrenner tracker in less than two months is already up 61%
According to his recent filings, he entered the year managing $5.29B
That portfolio is now expected to have… pic.twitter.com/Rjt5716UOe
— Autopilot (@joinautopilot) May 1, 2026
The performance is made even more impressive by the fact that the portfolio emulating Aschenbrenner’s strategy has a trading delay relative to the actual hedge fund.
Situational Awareness hedge fund investing strategy
Examining the most recent available 13-F filing for the Situational Awareness LP reveals a strategy consistent with Aschenbrenner’s background as an artificial intelligence (AI) researcher and may have even leveraged the relative ignorance of most traders regarding the specifics of the technology.
Specifically, unlike the vast majority of investors who have been heavily involved in buying prominent technology companies such as Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) for their involvement in the boom, the hedge fund has been building a position in firms involved with the necessary underlying infrastructure.
Situational Awareness’s top investment is up 240% in 2026
Situational Awareness’s biggest holding at the end of 2025 – accounting for 16% of the total portfolio value of $5.5 billion – was Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE). Along with an impressive rally in 2025, which enabled the equity to be up more than 1,500% in the last 12 months, it had also enjoyed a strong performance in 2026.
Specifically, having ended last year priced at $86.89 and risen to $294.89, BE stock is up 239.38%. Thus, Aschenbrenner’s position in the firm that manufactures solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) for use in AI data centers has risen from $875 million on December 31 to almost $3 billion at press time on May 4, 2026.
Most of Aschenbrenner’s bets are on AI infrastructure stocks
The pattern of investments is also seen in other major picks. Indeed, the second and third-biggest positions of the hedge fund were constituted by bullish options for the data center company Coreweave (NASDAQ: CRWV) and the ascendant semiconductor giant Intel (NASDAQ: INTC).
Elsewhere, Leopold Aschenbrenner in other companies is critical for the continuation and expansion of the AI boom.
Some of his other major investments include Lumentum Holdings (NASDAQ: LITE) – a leading optics manufacturer that is deeply embedded in the telecommunications supply chain – and SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) – a memory giant that saw explosive growth since its return to the stock market in early 2025.
SNDK shares are up 400% in 2026, meaning that the reported $250 million position is, at press time, worth $1.25 billion. LITE stock rallied 167.14% year-to-date (YTD), leading to an $800 million rise in the value of the Situational Awareness stake, reported as $478 million in the most recent 13-F.
This is the only Situational Awareness bearish bet in the latest 13-F
Lastly, the hedge fund reported in its latest quarterly disclosure a single bearish bet: put options worth just under $9 million for an Indian multinational technology company called Infosys Ltd (NSE: INFY).
Still, the difference in the nature of the bet did not translate into a difference in its success for Situational Awareness, and INFY is down 28.34% YTD.
Featured image via Shutterstock
