via TechCrunch AI
Embattled Hedge Fund Situational Awareness Invests $400M in Chip Startup Source Foundry
Despite being forced to liquidate most of its public portfolio last month, the AI-focused hedge fund Situational Awareness continues to make bold moves.
This week, the fund injected $400 million into Source Foundry—a stealth startup founded by Stanford researchers that aims to accelerate and reduce the cost of chip manufacturing, as reported by [The Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/situational-awareness-bets-400-million-on-stealth-chip-startup-after-crash-02c7374e?st=nJ8LeW&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink). This latest tranche brings Situational Awareness’s total investment in Source Foundry to $500 million.
Launched in 2024 by Leopold Aschenbrenner—a former OpenAI researcher in his mid-twenties with no prior trading experience—the fund initially posted strong returns. However, it has suffered significant losses over recent months amid a broader downturn in AI infrastructure stocks.
At the end of July, the fund sold off the majority of its public holdings to Ken Griffin’s Citadel, though it retained its stake in Anthropic (as [TechCrunch reported](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/30/ai-hedge-fund-situational-awareness-may-have-sold-its-public-portfolio-but-it-still-has-its-anthropic-shares/)). Its assets under management reportedly dropped from $20 billion to $10 billion.
On a lighter note, Aschenbrenner [didn’t let those setbacks derail his wedding](https://www.vanityfair.com/story/anthropic-situational-awareness-wedding?srsltid=AfmBOorB7L34By1SNfIVWCg5DSeUVjdmG9SK4lM0AKfcPZ3MnNL0EcoF).