Aschenbrenner has an OpenAI pedigree and $5.5 billion in his fund.
His stocks are focused on AI infrastructure.
He sees an AI revolution on the way, beyond what people are preparing for.
Leopold Aschenbrenner's venture fund, Situational Awareness, has become one of the most widely followed private funds today. It's named after a thesis he wrote that's available to read online, where he details his vision for artificial general intelligence (AGI).
"Everyone is now talking about AI, but few have the faintest glimmer of what is about to hit them," he wrote. "We will have superintelligence, in the true sense of the word." Aschenbrenner formerly worked at OpenAI, and he started the AGI-focused fund in 2024 with about $250 million.
Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »
As of the end of the first quarter, Situational Awareness had $5.5 billion in funds and 24 stocks. They're mostly AI support stocks, rather than the headline AI names like Nvidia and Broadcom.
Aschenbrenner is intimately familiar with the workings of AI development and has been ahead of the curve, and these stocks are all outperforming the S&P 500 this year. These are the top seven holdings.
Image source: Getty Images.
Aschenbrenner has made Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE) his biggest bet. This energy company sells solid oxide fuel cell systems, otherwise known as Bloom Energy Servers, that produce reliable on-site electricity for various facilities. Although the company has been around for a long time, it's gotten a new lease on life since its products can power large data centers off the electricity grid.
Bloom Energy has joined the AI boom, and the stock is up 150% this year alone. Situational Awareness also owns Bloom Energy calls, a separate high-conviction take.
Lumentum (NASDAQ: LITE) provides optical infrastructure for data centers, cloud computing, and telecommunications. It makes laser and photonic equipment that speeds up data transfer, which is why it has become a core component of AI technology. Lumentum has also been in operation for many years, but AI infused new life into the company and the stock, and it's up 143% year to date.
CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV) is one of the fund's more well-known stocks for AI investors. The company, which is backed by Nvidia, operates cloud and data center infrastructure and enables customers to run training and inference for AI hyperscaler development more efficiently than using traditional cloud platforms.
CoreWeave stock is up 63% this year. The fund's second-largest position is actually CoreWeave calls, which account for 14% of the portfolio.
Core Scientific (NASDAQ: CORZ) operates data centers, and it recently switched from mostly supporting cryptocurrency mining to supporting AI development. It has some serious funding from companies like JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley as it builds out its infrastructure to meet high demand. Its stock is up 36% year to date.
Iren (NASDAQ: IREN) is another data center infrastructure provider, and it has also switched from cryptocurrency mining to AI development. It buys land to build data centers, and it focuses on power-connected properties. Because it owns and builds its own locations, it can also build according to client specifications.
Iren has the lowest year-to-date gains on this list at 29%, but it's up 772% over the past year.
Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) is also a more well-known AI stock, and it has also moved from crypto mining to AI (sensing a theme?) It develops custom data centers for clients and rents them out, and it's building out at a fast pace to meet incredible demand. It has a partnership with CoreWeave, which is one of its biggest clients.
Applied Digital stock is up 32% this year, and 715% over the past year.
Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) is yet another AI infrastructure company, but it fills a different gap than most of the stocks on this list. Its NAND flash memory products resolve one of the biggest problems for technology companies by providing non-volatile memory, or continuous memory without a power source. It's also energy efficient and low cost.
Like some of these other stocks, it's a company that has reinvented itself to meet new AI needs for storage solutions, and its niche products are in high demand. Sandisk stock is up 284% this year and a whopping 2,800% over the past year.
Before you buy stock in Bloom Energy, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Bloom Energy wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $500,572!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,223,900!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 967% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 199% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of April 25, 2026.
JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Jennifer Saibil has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bloom Energy, Broadcom, JPMorgan Chase, Lumentum, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.