SanDisk surged 11%, with nearly $100 million in short-term options flowing into storage chip stocks, as the so-called "AI stock guru" is suspected of making a comeback.

On Friday, around $96 million in short-term call options flooded Sandisk (SNDK), Micron Technology (MU), Intel (INTC), and Marvell Technology (MRVL), with Sandisk surging over 11% at one point. All these options expire on October 2. Trading data shows roughly 10,000 call contracts for Micron, 4,200 for Sandisk, 20,000 for Intel, and 3,500 for Marvell, with total premiums amounting to around $96 million. CNBC host Jim Cramer posted on X that the trading pattern "looks exactly like Leopold is back," referring to AI investor Leopold Aschenbrenner and his fund Situational Awareness. According to regulatory filings, Situational Awareness’s two largest previous holdings were Sandisk and Micron, with positions of roughly $5.7 billion and $5.6 billion respectively at the end of June. On September 11, the Financial Times reported that Aschenbrenner had rebuilt positions in assets including AMD, Intel, SK Hynix, Sandisk, and CoreWeave via flex options. Nomura strategist Charlie McElligott noted at the time that roughly $315 million in option premiums had flowed into AI and semiconductor assets over several days. Aschenbrenner previously drew attention for his highly leveraged bets on AI and semiconductor stocks. His fund plunged 67% during the AI sector correction in July this year, after which he drastically cut positions. At the end of July, he wrote in a letter to investors that he would "learn the necessary lessons" and pledged that future public market investments would be managed on a "fully paid basis." To date, SEC filings have not disclosed the identity of the buyer of the nearly $100 million in options, so it remains unconfirmed whether the trades originated from Aschenbrenner. Unlike his previous use of total return swaps (TRS) for leverage, the market speculates he used fully paid options this time, with maximum theoretical losses limited to the premiums paid. However, the short term of the options means high time value decay and gamma risk.