Leopold Aschenbrenner’s hedge fund, Situational Awareness, faced a dramatic downturn after the semiconductor sector selloff in June 2025, leading to a 25% decline in the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) and a margin call for the fund. Despite initially raising $225 million and later ballooning to $45 billion, it struggled with over-leverage at 400% and poor risk management, prompting a statement to investors admitting, “We let you down this month.”
Meanwhile, prudent investors who avoided excessive leverage and purchased the SMH ETF are seeing their investments recover, while Situational Awareness has had to sell its public stocks to Citadel, a respected hedge fund. As of the recent report, Situational Awareness remains up by 80% for the year largely due to private shares in Anthropic, despite the turmoil.
The Columbia Seligman Premium Technology Growth Fund (STK) offers a more stable investment alternative, trading at an 8.9% discount to its net asset value (NAV) and demonstrating a track record of 1,300% growth since its inception in 2009, despite the semiconductor selloff impacting returns this year.
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