Aschenbrenner's $45B AI fund crashed: leverage killed the thesis
leopold aschenbrenner's situational awareness fund forced a fire sale to citadel after margin calls wiped out gains, proving that leverage can ruin a correct ai infrastructure thesis.
leopold aschenbrenner's situational awareness fund liquidated nearly all public holdings to citadel after heavy leverage and falling ai stocks like sk hynix triggered margin calls. the fund, which peaked at $45b assets and reported a 439 percent return in h1, collapsed days before the market recovered. while aschenbrenner's thesis on ai infrastructure remains valid, the excessive borrowing forced the sale, wiping out gains. the former openai employee retains private holdings in anthropic.