SAN FRANCISCO, United States: Situational Awareness’s Source Foundry investment totalled $500 million.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that the total includes a fresh $400 million infusion made this week, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Source Foundry recently raised funding at a $5 billion valuation, another unnamed source told the Journal. The Journal identified Stanford University researchers Abdulmalik Obaid and Joe Burg as the startup’s founders.
Source Foundry began operations in 2025 and has raised at least several hundred million dollars, the report said. The company aims to develop lithography tools addressing a major semiconductor-manufacturing bottleneck, according to the Journal.
It reportedly seeks alternatives to extreme ultraviolet lithography systems produced by Dutch equipment maker ASML Holding.
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ASML supplies hardware, software and services that chipmakers use to mass-produce integrated-circuit patterns. The company reported €32.7 billion in sales in 2025 and sold 300 new lithography systems.
Sequoia Capital previously backed Source Foundry, the Journal reported. A Situational Awareness spokesperson did not respond to the newspaper’s request for comment.
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Leopold Aschenbrenner, 24, runs the hedge fund, which invests in private startups and publicly traded assets. Situational Awareness sold most of its public stock portfolio to Citadel in July after substantial losses.
The Journal described Source Foundry as its latest known private-company investment following that sale.
