On Friday, approximately $96 million in short-term call options flooded into U.S. AI chip stocks SanDisk, Micron, Intel, and Marvell, with SanDisk surging as much as 11% intraday. CNBC host Jim Cramer expressed concern over this activity, and market speculation widely links it to Leopold Aschenbrenner, founder of the hedge fund Situational Awareness, who previously faced liquidation due to highly leveraged bets on AI stocks. Aschenbrenner's fund plummeted 67% and sold most of its holdings during the AI sector's correction in July, yet still recorded a positive return of approximately 80% for the year. The underlying assets in this options trade align with his previous heavily weighted positions, and the trading strategy (short-dated, large-scale call options) also matches his usual approach. However, this time he is believed to have used fully paid options, limiting his maximum loss to the premium paid.