Leopold Aschenbrenner’s $35 billion AI fund collapse

The fund, which mirrored the title of his viral June 2024 essay, saw its holdings crater from a peak of $45 billion to just $10 billion by Thursday. Aschenbrenner was forced to liquidate his leveraged positions in hardware-heavy firms like SK Hynix and CoreWeave, selling the assets at a steep discount to Ken Griffin’s Citadel. The swift unwinding marks a definitive correction for a fund that had previously touted gains exceeding 1,000% since its inception.

For his followers, the 24-year-old Columbia University valedictorian represented the vanguard of AI investment, with many treating his quarterly filings as a roadmap for the sector. Yet, the volatility of the underlying hardware market proved unforgiving. Aschenbrenner’s rapid ascent and sudden retreat serve as a high-profile cautionary tale for those betting on the relentless upward trajectory of AI-linked stocks.