What to know:
- Leopold Aschenbrenner, a former OpenAI researcher known for warning about China and advanced AI models, boosted his disclosed equity exposure from $5.5 billion at the end of 2025 to $13.67 billion as of March 31.
- His largest long positions focus on bitcoin miners and other firms supplying electricity, data center capacity and compute infrastructure for AI, including IREN, Core Scientific, Riot Platforms, CleanSpark, Bitfarms, Bitdeer, Hive Digital, Bloom Energy, SanDisk and CoreWeave.
- At the same time, he opened $7.46 billion in put options against major semiconductor companies and chip-focused ETFs, including large bearish bets on the VanEck Semiconductor ETF, Nvidia, Oracle and Broadcom, signaling skepticism about chip stocks even as he backs AI infrastructure growth.
Leopold Aschenbrenner, a former OpenAI researcher famous for raising concerns about China potentially gaining access to cutting-edge AI technology, significantly increased his investments in companies that mine bitcoin and provide infrastructure for artificial intelligence. At the same time, he made large bets against companies that produce semiconductors.
Aschenbrenner recently reported a significant increase in his stock holdings to the Securities and Exchange Commission. His investments grew from $5.5 billion at the end of 2025 to $13.67 billion by March 31st.
He held significant investments in companies that provide essential resources for the artificial intelligence industry, such as electricity, data center space, and computing power. The filing also revealed his ownership in several companies involved in bitcoin mining and the infrastructure that supports it, including IREN, Core Scientific, Riot Platforms, CleanSpark, Bitfarms, Bitdeer, and Hive Digital.
These companies are now focusing on providing the energy and powerful computer systems needed for artificial intelligence, rather than primarily serving cryptocurrency miners. Because they already have established energy contracts and large buildings, investors are paying attention as the demand for AI data centers grows.
I’ve been looking at what Chris Aschenbrenner is investing in, and it seems he’s bullish on the hardware side of AI. He’s got significant holdings in Bloom Energy, SanDisk, and a cloud provider called CoreWeave. Basically, his portfolio signals he believes there’s still a lot of growth potential in the actual physical infrastructure that powers artificial intelligence – things like servers, energy, and data storage.
He also bet against major semiconductor companies by purchasing $7.46 billion worth of put options, which profit if their stock prices fall. His largest bets against the industry included $2.04 billion in put options on the VanEck Semiconductor ETF, $1.57 billion on Nvidia (NVDA), and over $1 billion each on Oracle (ORCL) and Broadcom (AVGO).
Live markets: Bitcoin gives up all of May’s gains, slipping below $77,000
57 minutes ago
Vitalik Buterin says AI ‘formal verification’ could actually make crypto much more secure
1 hour ago
Kraken parent Payward’s Q1 revenue climbs despite crypto market slump
1 hour ago
XRP slips 2% as profit-taking knocks token back below $1.40
1 hour ago
CoinDesk 20 performance update: Bitcoin Cash (BCH) drops 13% as all assets decline
2 hours ago
Bitcoin faces outsized quantum threat as computing breakthroughs accelerate, Citi says
2 hours ago
Strategy made mammoth $2 billion bitcoin purchase last week
2 hours ago
Bitmine buys the dip as Tom Lee ties ether’s pullback to rising oil prices
2 hours ago
Crypto traders betting on a rally lose $563 million in liquidations. Ether and bitcoin suffer the most
9 hours ago
Bitcoin Depot, North America’s largest bitcoin ATM operator, files for bankruptcy
8 hours ago
Bitcoin slides under $77,000 as oil shock and Treasury yields hit risk assets
11 hours ago
Yet another crypto bridge falls victim to an $11 million hack
10 hours ago
In this article
BTCBTC$76,866.23◢2.01%Read More
- Pi Hotel Vietnam: First to Accept Pi Coin Payments in Real-World Transactions
- Silver Rate Forecast
- Gold Rate Forecast
- USD IDR PREDICTION
- Warsh’s Fed Debut: A June Rate Cut? Don’t Hold Your Breath, Darling
- Bitcoin vs. DeFi: The Security Showdown That’ll Make You Rethink Your Crypto
- Brent Oil Forecast
- USD MXN PREDICTION
- EUR PKR PREDICTION
- KAS PREDICTION. KAS cryptocurrency
2026-05-18 18:20