Top Funds' Activity in Q1 2026
Hedge funds have been trimming positions in U.S. semiconductor companies following the sector’s outsized gains, choosing to secure profits while still maintaining strong exposure to artificial intelligence investments, according to Goldman Sachs data referenced by Bloomberg on Thursday.
Information from Goldman’s prime brokerage unit reportedly indicated that semiconductor and semiconductor equipment stocks were the most heavily net-sold U.S. subsector over the past month. The activity was driven primarily by investors reducing long exposure rather than building significant short positions against chipmakers.
That shift has pushed the sector into a net-selling position for the year to date.
The profit-taking follows a steep rally across AI-linked chip stocks. Goldman Sachs’ AI semiconductor basket has outperformed the S&P 500 by more than 50% in 2026, while the broader index itself gained over 18% between late March and a recent three-day pullback.
South Korea’s Kospi index — often used as a gauge of worldwide demand for AI infrastructure — briefly rose above 8,000 points for the first time in mid-May after climbing more than 80% year to date before later retreating.
Goldman’s prime brokerage team reportedly said the recent moves reflected portfolio adjustments rather than declining confidence in the AI trade. Exposure to U.S. artificial intelligence shares within the bank’s technology, media and telecommunications basket remains near all-time highs.
Meanwhile, hedge funds have expanded short positions in broad equity indices and ETFs as a hedge against broader market risks, with those bearish positions now sitting at their highest levels in about ten years.
Goldman analysts added that gross leverage across hedge fund portfolios reached a new five-year high this month, while net leverage stayed relatively unchanged — a setup the bank said does not resemble the kind of speculative frenzy currently evident among retail traders.
Jared Blikre of Yahoo Finance also reports chip stocks are hitting fresh records, but Nvidia isn't the driver:
Chip stocks are back to hitting intraday record highs after a fast round trip. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) pushed to its first intraday record high since May 11 on Friday, extending a three-day rally that followed a three-day slide that started late last week.
Qualcomm (QCOM) led the move, jumping more than 12% on Friday and rising nearly 20% over the last three sessions.
What’s behind the move: The rally is notable because it is not being driven by Nvidia (NVDA).
Nvidia has been selling off since its Wednesday earnings report, even after the company topped estimates and gave an upbeat outlook on strong chip demand. The stock fell again Friday and has lost more than $100 billion in market value over the last three sessions.
That makes the rebound look less like another Nvidia-led AI surge and more like buyers broadly rotating across the rest of the semiconductor complex.
By the numbers: The biggest value creation over the last three sessions has come from the next tier of chip leaders. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has added nearly $100 billion in market value, while Arm Holdings (ARM) and Micron Technology (MU) have each added close to $90 billion.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) and ASML (ASML) have each added more than $70 billion, while Intel (INTC) has added more than $50 billion.
What else you need to know: The move also reached the higher-beta end of the chip trade. Navitas Semiconductor (NVTS) surged nearly 18% Friday, Vishay Intertechnology (VSH) jumped over 10%, and Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) rose nearly 10%.
Broadcom (AVGO) was a big exception, slipping Friday and remaining lower over the three-day rebound.
The test now is whether SOXX can hold the reclaimed record zone. If it can hold above it, the chip rally looks repaired after a brief hiccup.
It's Friday, the S&P 500 notched its longest weekly win streak since 2023, the Dow climbed to record high and all seems wonderful in Equity La La Land.
The parabolic moves in stocks continued this week, with quantum stocks (IONQ, RGTI, QBTS, etc), IBM (IBM), Dell (DELL) and many others all soaring. Even BlackBerry (BB) and Nokia (NOK) joined in on the fun today, with their own big moves up.
These days, it seems like anything AI/ quantum related just explodes up.
Just have a look at the top-performing US large cap stocks this week (full list here):
And here are the top performing US large caps year-to-date (full list here):
Anyway, that's not why you're reading this comment; you all want to know what the world's top money managers bought and sold last quarter, with the customary 45-day lag.
Since AI is the theme of our times, I added a new fund, Situational Awareness LP, a prominent, San Francisco-based hedge fund launched in 2024 by Leopold Aschenbrenner, a former OpenAI researcher (replaced Kynikos, which closed a few years ago at number 37 in the L/S hedge funds below).
I've never heard of Leopold or his fund, but his first name suggests he must be very intelligent (/sarc).
Jack Inabinet of Bankless reports Leopold Aschenbrenner's 'Situational Awareness' files 13F quarterly investment disclosure:
Situational Awareness LP, a $13.7B tech mega fund managed by Gen Z AI savant Leopold Aschenbrenner, has filed its 13F quarterly disclosure with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, providing the investing public with a moment-in-time snapshot of its portfolio at the end of the first quarter of 2026.
What's the Scoop?
Chipmaker Shorts: At the end of the first quarter, Aschenbrenner's Situational Awareness held an astonishing $8.46B worth of notional put exposure against a wide array of chipmaker stocks, including $2B of notional put exposure against the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ: SMH) and $1.6B of notional put exposure against AI mega cap Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). Compounding on these broader bets, the fund also opened put positions against Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO), Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD), Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU), ASML Holdings (NASDAQ: ASML), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), Corning Glass Works (NYSE: GLW), and Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE: TSM).
Bullish Bets: California-based biofuel company Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE) remained Aschenbrenner's largest bull bet, with Situational Awareness holding 6.5M shares worth $879M and call options to 409k shares with a notional value of $55M. The fund opened calls in memory darling Sandisk (NASAQ: SNDK) to complement its existing 1M+ common stock position, alongside calls on chipmakers Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) and Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE: TSM), signaling it is making selective bets in the sector intended to monetize volatility. Further, Situational Awareness increased its positions in crypto mining/data center operators CleanSpark (NASDAQ: CLSK), Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: RIOT), Applied Digital (NASDAQ APLD), and IREN Limited (NASDAQ: IREN).
Late Filing: Although 13F filings were due on Friday (all institutional investment managers with over $100M of securities holdings must file the disclosure with the SEC within 45 days of quarter end), Situational Awarness failed to file until this morning. Late or missed 13F filings can trigger civil penalties at the discretion of the SEC, ranging from minor fines to as much as $750k.
What's the Take?
Although much of the attention has centered on Aschenbrenner’s massive semiconductor put positions, Situational Awareness remains heavily exposed to a basket of highly volatile tech names and continues making selective bets across compute, memory, and data center infrastructure.
Still, many of the chip stocks the fund bet against have staged sharp rallies since the end of Q1 — the snapshot date captured in the filing — leaving it unknown how severely the run-up impacted net fund performance, even as some of its highest-conviction longs emerged as standout winners over the past month. Additionally, the current makeup of the portfolio remains unknown, as some positions may have been reduced, exited, or reversed entirely after the filing period ended.
Anyway, you can view Leopold's top positions here (he's definitely losing money on his short positions).
Forget Leopold, Leo, what are Stanley Druckenmiller's top positions as at last quarter?
They're right here and you can view them below:
What about David Tepper's top positions? You can view them here and see below:
It looks to me like the top fund managers are loaded to the hilt on semis but the data is lagged, so take it with a grain of salt.
Chasing parabolic moves is fun if you catch them early and ride the wave, not so fun when the top hedge funds exit and leave the retail crowd holding the bag.
Ok, let me wrap this up, time to enjoy my weekend.
The links below take you straight to the top holdings of top money managers and then click to see where they increased and decreased their holdings.
Top multi-strategy, event-driven hedge funds and large hedge fund managers
As the name implies, these hedge funds invest across a wide variety of
hedge fund strategies like L/S Equity, L/S credit, global macro,
convertible arbitrage, risk arbitrage, volatility arbitrage, merger
arbitrage, distressed debt and statistical pair trading. Below are links
to the holdings of some top multi-strategy hedge funds I track
closely:
1) Appaloosa LP (David Tepper)
2) Citadel Advisors (Ken Griffin)
3) Balyasny Asset Management
4) Point72 Asset Management (Steve Cohen)
5) Millennium Management (Izzy Englander)
6) Farallon Capital Management
7) Shonfeld Strategic Partners
10) Peak6 Investments
11) Kingdon Capital Management
12) HBK Investments
13) Highbridge Capital Management
14) Highland Capital Management
15) Hudson Bay Capital Management
16) Pentwater Capital Management
17) Sculptor Capital Management (formerly known as Och-Ziff Capital Management)
18) ExodusPoint Capital Management
19) Carlson Capital Management
20) Magnetar Capital
21) Whitebox Advisors
22) QVT Financial
23) Paloma Partners
24) Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisors
25) York Capital Management
Top Global Macro Hedge Funds and Family Offices
These hedge funds gained notoriety because of George Soros, arguably the
best and most famous hedge fund manager. Global macros typically
invest across fixed income, currency, commodity and equity markets.
George Soros, Carl Icahn, Stanley Druckenmiller, Julian Robertson have
converted their hedge funds into family offices to manage their own
money.
1) Soros Fund Management
2) Icahn Associates
3) Duquesne Family Office (Stanley Druckenmiller)
4) Bridgewater Associates
5) Pointstate Capital Partners
6) Caxton Associates (Bruce Kovner)
7) Tudor Investment Corporation (Paul Tudor Jones)
8) Discovery Capital Management (Rob Citrone)
9) Moore Capital Management
10) Rokos Capital Management
11) Element Capital
12) Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust (Michael Larson, the man behind Gates)
Top Quant and Market Neutral Hedge Funds
These funds use sophisticated mathematical algorithms to make their
returns, typically using high-frequency models so they churn their
portfolios often. A few of them have outstanding long-term track records
and many believe quants are taking over the world.
They typically only hire PhDs in mathematics, physics and computer
science to develop their algorithms. Market neutral funds will
engage in pair trading to remove market beta. Some are large asset
managers that specialize in factor investing.
1) Alyeska Investment Group
2) Renaissance Technologies
3) DE Shaw & Co.
4) Two Sigma Investments
5) Cubist Systematic Strategies (a quant division of Point72)
6) Man Group
7) Analytic Investors
8) AQR Capital Management
9) Dimensional Fund Advisors
10) Quantitative Investment Management
11) Oxford Asset Management
12) PDT Partners
13) TPG Angelo Gordon
14) Quantitative Systematic Strategies
15) Quantitative Investment Management
16) Bayesian Capital Management
17) SABA Capital Management
18) Quadrature Capital
19) Simplex Trading
Top Deep Value, Activist, Growth at a Reasonable Price, Event Driven and Distressed Debt Funds
These are among the top long-only funds that everyone tracks. They
include funds run by legendary investors like Warren Buffet, Seth
Klarman, Ron Baron and Ken Fisher. Activist investors like to make
investments in companies where management lacks the proper incentives to
maximize shareholder value. They differ from traditional L/S hedge
funds by having a more concentrated portfolio. Distressed debt funds
typically invest in debt of a company but sometimes take equity
positions.
1) Abrams Capital Management (the one-man wealth machine)
2) Berkshire Hathaway
3) TCI Fund Management
4) Baron Partners Fund (click here to view other Baron funds)
5) BHR Capital
6) Fisher Asset Management
7) Baupost Group
8) Fairfax Financial Holdings
9) Fairholme Capital
10) Gotham Asset Management
11) Fir Tree Partners
12) Elliott Investment Management (Paul Singer)
13) Jana Partners
14) Miller Value Partners (Bill Miller)
15) Highfields Capital Management
16) Eminence Capital
17) Pershing Square Capital Management
18) New Mountain Vantage Advisers
19) Atlantic Investment Management
20) Polaris Capital Management
21) Third Point
22) Marcato Capital Management
23) Glenview Capital Management
24) Apollo Management
25) Avenue Capital
26) Armistice Capital
27) Blue Harbor Group
28) Brigade Capital Management
29) Caspian Capital
30) Kerrisdale Advisers
31) Knighthead Capital Management
32) Relational Investors
33) Roystone Capital Management
34) Scopia Capital Management
35) Schneider Capital Management
36) ValueAct Capital
37) Vulcan Value Partners
38) Okumus Fund Management
39) Eagle Capital Management
40) Sasco Capital
41) Lyrical Asset Management
42) Gabelli Funds
43) Brave Warrior Advisors
44) Matrix Asset Advisors
45) Jet Capital
46) Conatus Capital Management
47) Starboard Value
48) Pzena Investment Management
49) Trian Fund Management
50) Oaktree Capital Management
52) Southeastern Asset Management
Top Long/Short Hedge Funds
These hedge funds go long shares they think will rise in value and short
those they think will fall. Along with global macro funds, they
command the bulk of hedge fund assets. There are many L/S funds but
here is a small sample of some well-known funds.
1) Adage Capital Management
2) Viking Global Investors
3) Greenlight Capital
4) Maverick Capital
5) Pointstate Capital Partners
6) Marathon Asset Management
7) Tiger Global Management (Chase Coleman)
8) Coatue Management
9) D1 Capital Partners
10) Artis Capital Management
11) Fox Point Capital Management
12) Jabre Capital Partners
13) Lone Pine Capital
14) Paulson & Co.
15) Bronson Point Management
16) Hoplite Capital Management
17) LSV Asset Management
18) Hussman Strategic Advisors
19) Cantillon Capital Management
20) Brookside Capital Management
21) Blue Ridge Capital
22) Iridian Asset Management
23) Clough Capital Partners
24) GLG Partners LP
25) Cadence Capital Management
26) Honeycomb Asset Management
27) New Mountain Vantage
28) Penserra Capital Management
29) Eminence Capital
30) Steadfast Capital Management
31) Brookside Capital Management
32) PAR Capital Capital Management
33) Gilder, Gagnon, Howe & Co
34) Brahman Capital
35) Bridger Management
36) Kensico Capital Management
37) Situational Awareness LP
38) Soroban Capital Partners
39) Passport Capital
40) Pennant Capital Management
41) Mason Capital Management
42) Tide Point Capital Management
43) Sirios Capital Management
44) Hayman Capital Management
45) Highside Capital Management
46) Tremblant Capital Group
47) Decade Capital Management
48) Suvretta Capital Management
49) Bloom Tree Partners
50) Cadian Capital Management
51) Matrix Capital Management
52) Senvest Partners
53) Falcon Edge Capital Management
54) Park West Asset Management
55) Melvin Capital Partners (Plotkin shut down Melvin after reeling rom Redditor attack)
56) Owl Creek Asset Management
57) Portolan Capital Management
58) Proxima Capital Management
59) Tourbillon Capital Partners
60) Impala Asset Management
61) Valinor Management
62) Marshall Wace
63) Light Street Capital Management
64) Rock Springs Capital Management
65) Rubric Capital Management
66) Whale Rock Capital
67) Skye Global Management
68) York Capital Management
69) Zweig-Dimenna Associates
Top Sector and Specialized Funds
I like tracking activity funds that specialize in real estate, biotech,
healthcare, retail and other sectors like mid, small and micro caps.
Here are some funds worth tracking closely.
1) Avoro Capital Advisors (formerly Venbio Select Advisors)
2) Baker Brothers Advisors
3) Perceptive Advisors
4) RTW Investments
5) Healthcor Management
6) Orbimed Advisors
7) Deerfield Management
8) BB Biotech AG
9) Birchview Capital
10) Ghost Tree Capital
11) Soleus Capital Management
12) Oracle Investment Management
13) Palo Alto Investors
14) Consonance Capital Management
15) Camber Capital Management
16) Redmile Group
17) Casdin Capital
18) Bridger Capital Management
19) Boxer Capital
21) Bridgeway Capital Management
22) Cohen & Steers
23) Cardinal Capital Management
24) Munder Capital Management
25) Diamondhill Capital Management
26) Cortina Asset Management
27) Geneva Capital Management
28) Criterion Capital Management
29) Daruma Capital Management
30) 12 West Capital Management
31) RA Capital Management
32) Sarissa Capital Management
33) Rock Springs Capital Management
34) Senzar Asset Management
35) Paradigm Biocapital Advisors
36) Sphera Funds
37) Tang Capital Management
38) Thomson Horstmann & Bryant
39) Ecor1 Capital
40) Opaleye Management
41) NEA Management Company
42) Sofinnova Investments
43) Great Point Partners
44) Tekla Capital Management
45) Van Berkom and Associates
Mutual Funds and Asset Managers
Mutual funds and large asset managers are not hedge funds but their
sheer size makes them important players. Some asset managers have
excellent track records. Below, are a few funds investors track closely.
1) Fidelity
2) BlackRock Inc
3) Wellington Management
4) AQR Capital Management
5) Sands Capital Management
6) Brookfield Asset Management
7) Dodge & Cox
8) Eaton Vance Management
9) Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co.
10) Geode Capital Management
11) Goldman Sachs Group
12) JP Morgan Chase & Co.
13) Morgan Stanley
14) Manulife Asset Management
15) UBS Asset Management
16) Barclays Global Investor
17) Epoch Investment Partners
18) Thornburg Investment Management
19) Kornitzer Capital Management
20) Batterymarch Financial Management
21) Tocqueville Asset Management
22) Neuberger Berman
23) Winslow Capital Management
24) Herndon Capital Management
25) Artisan Partners
26) Great West Life Insurance Management
27) Lazard Asset Management
28) Janus Capital Management
29) Franklin Resources
30) Capital Research Global Investors
31) T. Rowe Price
32) First Eagle Investment Management
33) Frontier Capital Management
34) Akre Capital Management
35) Brandywine Global
36) Brown Capital Management
37) Victory Capital Management
38) Orbis Allan Gray
39) Ariel Investments
40) ARK Investment Management
Canadian Asset Managers
Here are a few Canadian funds I track closely:
1) Addenda Capital
2) Letko, Brosseau and Associates
3) Fiera Capital Corporation
4) West Face Capital
5) Hexavest
6) 1832 Asset Management
7) Jarislowsky, Fraser
8) Connor, Clark & Lunn Investment Management
9) TD Asset Management
10) CIBC Asset Management
11) Beutel, Goodman & Co
12) Greystone Managed Investments
13) Mackenzie Financial Corporation
14) Great West Life Assurance Co
15) Guardian Capital
16) Scotia Capital
17) AGF Investments
18) Montrusco Bolton
19) CI Investments
20) Venator Capital Management
21) Van Berkom and Associates
22) Formula Growth
23) Hillsdale Investment Management
Pension Funds, Endowment Funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds and the Fed's Swiss Surrogate
Last but not least, I the track activity of some pension funds,
endowment, sovereign wealth funds and the Swiss National Bank (aka the Fed's Swiss surrogate). Below, a
sample of the funds I track closely:
1) Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMco)
2) Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
3) Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
4) Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec
5) OMERS Administration Corp.
6) Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP)
7) British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI)
8) Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments)
9) PGGM Investments
10) APG All Pensions Group
11) California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS)
12) California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS)
13) New York State Common Fund
14) New York State Teachers Retirement System
15) State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System
16) State of Wisconsin Investment Board
17) State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund
18) Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio
19) STRS Ohio
20) Teacher Retirement System of Texas
21) Virginia Retirement Systems
22) TIAA CREF investment Management
23) Harvard Management Co.
24) Norges Bank
25) Nordea Investment Management
26) Korea Investment Corp.
27) Singapore Temasek Holdings
28) Yale Endowment Fund
29) Swiss National Bank (aka, the Fed's Swiss surrogate)
Below, Berkshire Hathaway's first 13F under CEO Greg Abel suggest more willingness to commit to tech stocks than under Warren Buffett, with a purchase of roughly $12.5 billion in Alphabet stock. This is likely to add volatility but add exposure to potential gains from AI and other emerging technologies.
Next, Leopold's Situational Awareness 13F is out and you can see the summary below (around minute 6:29).
Lastly, legendary macro investor Stan Druckenmiller joins Hard Lessons for a conversation with Iliana Bouzali, Global Head of Derivatives Distribution and Structuring at Morgan Stanley.
Druckenmiller reflects on his early career and how he learned to act decisively and change course quickly when the facts on the ground shift. Hear how he would construct a portfolio if he had to start over today, why contrarianism is overrated, and which stock he regrets selling too early.
Fantastic interview with the best money manager in the world. Take the time to watch it.
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