Ken Griffin's Deal Rescued AI Stocks From a Rout — But Didn't Convince Everyone the Worst Is Over

Billionaire Ken Griffin's deal with embattled hedge fund Situational Awareness helped trigger a relief rally in global AI stocks, Bloomberg reported, though traders remain split on whether the worst is over or more turbulence lies ahead. South Korea's chipmaker-heavy Kospi surged a record 18% on Friday after a three-day selloff, its Taiwanese peer rose 8%, and Japan's Nikkei 225 advanced 4% — following the biggest one-day gain since April 2025 for a US semiconductor gauge on Thursday.

Situational Awareness, run by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, had delivered a 439% net return in the first half of 2026 but was running on heavy leverage. Its assets plunged from $45 billion at the start of July to about $10 billion, forcing the fund to sell to meet margin calls. Griffin's Citadel snapped up the bulk of the fund's remaining public equities at a discount, easing fears of a disorderly unwind.

“The leverage unwind is mostly done for now, but that doesn't mean markets rally back.”

— Calvin Yeoh, Blue Edge Advisors

Others were more cautious: Berenberg's Ulrich Urbahn questioned whether this was the only over-levered pocket, warning a single liquidation could be the first domino rather than the last. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index still ended July down more than 20%, its worst month since the global financial crisis. A similar chips-plus-crypto link has shown up before: semiconductor swings have directly moved bitcoin near the $64,000 mark before. More detail on the deal is available via Bloomberg, syndicated on Yahoo Finance.

Nothing here should be taken as financial advice — just information to consider.