Worst period for hedge funds since 2008 after AI stock rout
Falling US tech and Asian chip stocks hit investment pools amid bubble fears
Hedge funds focused on AI stocks have suffered their worst month since 2008, according to new figures.
A plunge in the value of US tech giants and Asian semiconductor groups led tech funds to drop by 7pc in July, according to new data from Hedge Fund Research (HFR).
This is the worst period for them since the depths of the global financial crisis in January 2008.
The slump underlines fears about an unravelling of the AI tech boom, which has driven Wall Street to record highs.
Alarm over a possible bubble in tech stocks grew after an AI-focused hedge fund, Situational Awareness, founded by Leopold Aschenbrenner, came close to collapse amid a 67pc fall in value.
It forced the 24-year-old investor, once hailed as the “Nostradamus of AI”, to sell the bulk of his fund’s portfolio to Ken Griffin’s Citadel, under pressure from Wall Street lenders whose money he was using to make big bets on AI stocks.