Former OpenAI researcher Aschenbrenner makes a big bet on Bitcoin mining companies while shorting Nvidia and AMD

On May 18, according to CoinDesk, former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner has increased his disclosed investment size from $5.5 billion to $13.67 billion until March 31, 2026, and has heavily invested in stocks of Bitcoin mining companies and AI infrastructure companies. His key holdings include mining companies such as IREN, Core Scientific, Riot Platforms, CleanSpark, Bitfarms, Bitdeer, and Hive Digital, betting that their power resources and data center capabilities will benefit from the growing demand for AI computing power. At the same time, he has also established a short position of approximately $7.46 billion in semiconductors, including large put option positions on VanEck Semiconductor ETF, NVIDIA, Oracle, and Broadcom.