At a glance
- Sharon AI and IREN were worth US$890 million inside Leopold Aschenbrenner's Situational Awareness at 30 June 2026.
- The fund sold the bulk of its share portfolio to Citadel on 30 July 2026, after losing 67% in a month.
- Citadel has since unwound more than 80% of the risk it took on, in nearly 100 off-market trades worth over US$4 billion.
- Sharon AI's prospectus of 21 August 2026 counts Situational Awareness at 19.99% of its Class A stock, held as at 12 August.
- Sharon AI shareholders vote on 27 August 2026 on a resolution that would let Situational Awareness lift its holding above 20%.
Sharon AI and IREN were US$890 million of the June holdings
Situational Awareness, the hedge fund run by Leopold Aschenbrenner, sold the bulk of its public share portfolio to Citadel before the market opened on 30 July 2026. Ken Griffin, Citadel's founder, told investors on 21 August 2026 that his firm has since unwound more than 80% of the risk it took on. Citadel did it in nearly 100 negotiated off-market trades worth over US$4 billion. Two of the companies in that portfolio are Australian-founded and build AI data centre capacity in Australia.
Aschenbrenner built the fund on the argument that the limit on artificial intelligence is physical: the power and computing capacity to run it. The portfolio ran on borrowed money, with more than half of it in two memory chipmakers, SanDisk and Micron. The fund lost 67% in July as AI infrastructure shares fell, and on 4 August it put US$400 million into a stealth chip startup. What the fund owned became public on 14 August 2026, when it filed the quarterly list of American shareholdings that large investors must lodge.
At 30 June the portfolio held Sharon AI at US$456.8 million and IREN at US$433.3 million.
| Holding | Value at 30 June 2026 | Share of portfolio |
|---|---|---|
| SanDisk | US$5.67 billion | 28.0% |
| Micron | US$5.57 billion | 27.5% |
| Sharon AI (Nasdaq: SHAZ) | US$456.8 million | 2.3% |
| IREN (Nasdaq: IREN) | US$433.3 million | 2.1% |
Source: Situational Awareness LP, quarterly holdings filing for the period ended 30 June 2026, lodged 14 August 2026. Percentages calculated against the filing's stated total of US$20.24 billion.
Sharon AI fell 43% across July and IREN fell 19.5%. On 30 July 2026, the morning Citadel bought the portfolio, Sharon AI rose 21.7% and IREN rose 30.5%.
Sharon AI's prospectus counts Situational Awareness at 19.99%
Situational Awareness still held its Sharon AI shares thirteen days after the sale. Sharon AI said so itself, in a prospectus filed on 21 August 2026 covering a resale of Class A stock. Its ownership table, drawn up as at 12 August 2026, lists Situational Awareness Partners LP at 7.6 million shares. Aschenbrenner is named as the person holding voting and investment control over them.
Sharon AI puts that holding at 19.99% of its Class A stock and 9.39% of its votes.
The count is unchanged from 30 June. It is the same 5,396,127 Class A shares that appear in the fund's quarterly list, plus 2,166,902 shares it can take up under pre-funded warrants. The bulk of the stake traces to the US$1.6 billion raise Situational Awareness anchored in June 2026.
A further 508,021 warrant shares sit out of reach. The warrants cap the fund at 19.99% of the Class A stock, and it is already pressed against that ceiling.
The fund has been selling elsewhere. It put its Core Scientific stake at 4.4% in a filing lodged on 4 August 2026, against 8.1% as at 15 July and 9.4% in its previous amendment in October 2025. Citadel bought a majority of the fund's public shareholdings, and the private portfolio stayed where it was, including a stake in Anthropic.
IREN leaves no such trail. At 30 June the fund's 9.5 million shares were under 3% of the company. A holder has to disclose only above 5%, so the fund's quarterly list for September is the next public account of the position.
What to watch
Sharon AI holds its annual meeting on 27 August 2026, where one resolution asks shareholders to approve the issue of the shares behind those warrants, under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(b). The fund's warrant terms end the 19.99% cap once that approval passes, which would free the remaining 508,021 shares.
Sharon AI reported 212MW of AI factory capacity and US$8.8 billion of total contract value at its second-quarter result on 6 August 2026. Its board approved seeking an ASX listing in April 2026, and it has been preparing the offer since. Australians would buy CHESS Depositary Interests, units that let a foreign share trade on the ASX. The Australian Financial Review reported a target of the second half of July 2026, and that window closed without a listing.
Firmus took the private route. On 7 August 2026 it raised US$2 billion from Blackstone, Coatue, NVIDIA and Jane Street at a valuation above US$10.5 billion. The Australian Financial Review reported on 30 June 2026 that Firmus was targeting an ASX listing in the fourth quarter.