From Fired Researcher to $13.7 Billion King: How Leopold Aschenbrenner Broke the Hedge Fund World

14. Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD)

Situational Awareness LP’s Stake: $320 Million

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) has consistently featured in the 13F portfolio of Situational Awareness LP since the first quarter of 2025. Back then, this position consisted of around 4 million shares. The fund added to this position in the next quarter, growing it to more than 6.5 million shares. Another addition to the stake was made in the fourth quarter of 2025, when the fund grew the stake by over 86%. Filings for the first quarter of 2026 show that the fund owned close to 13.5 million shares in the firm, up close to 20% compared to filings for the fourth quarter of 2025. The firm designs, develops, and operates digital infrastructure solutions to high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence industries in North America. It formerly operated as a Bitcoin miner.

Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) features on a long list of former Bitcoin firms that have transitioned to AI compute and won the backing of Leopold Aschenbrenner. While many infrastructure builders are still in the planning or early construction phases, Applied is actively converting completed infrastructure into realized, high-margin revenue. The firm reported total revenue of $126.64 million for the latest quarter, marking a 139.3% year-over-year increase from the $52.92 million reported in the prior-year period. This print cleared consensus Wall Street analyst estimates of $76.56 million by 67.3%. Driven by the ramp-up of HPC hosting segment, which contributed roughly $71 million to the quarter, the company flipped non-GAAP bottom line to an adjusted EPS of $0.09 per share, beating expectations for an EPS loss.