When billionaire Ken Griffin pours billions right into a inventory, buyers listen.
Griffin’s Citadel added roughly $2.52 billion value of Amazon (AMZN) inventory, taking its place to greater than $3.2 billion, per its newest 13F submitting. The hedge fund additionally doubled its stake in AI bellwether Nvidia (NVDA), cementing a place that’s value practically $4 billion.
The huge bets clearly level to Griffin wanting extra publicity to the relentless AI arms race.
Amazon inventory has wobbled of late, on the again of its aggressive $200 billion capital spending plan linked to AI.
For perspective, the inventory is down 11.3% 12 months to this point, and greater than 14% previously month. Nonetheless, from a elementary standpoint, Amazon continues to impress, spearheaded by a wholesome AI-powered backlog and its sturdy cloud gross sales.
Even with buyers getting spooked about AI, the info nonetheless level to wholesome demand that continues to be as stable as ever.
For perspective, Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater additionally piled into Nvidia, a large $253 million wager, including roughly 1.35 million shares, which took its whole stake to almost $721 million at year-end.
On prime of that, billionaire investor David Tepper has been purchasing in tech, with Appaloosa placing tens of millions to work in Micron, Google, and Meta Platforms.
Griffin stays unfazed by the volatility in tech and is positioning Citadel for what this 12 months might appear like if AI spending successfully turns from promise into earnings.
Ken Griffin’s Citadel disclosed a multibillion-dollar addition of Amazon inventory.
Khanna/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Citadel portfolio 13F exercise breakdown
- Market worth: $0.67 trillion (prior $0.66 trillion)
- Inflows/(outflows) as % of whole MV: +0.52%
- New purchases: 2,088 shares
- Added to: 5,010 shares
- Offered out of: 2,204 shares
- Decreased holdings in: 5,384 shares
- Prime 10 holdings focus: 22.8%
- Turnover: 29.2%
Supply: WhaleWisdom
Who’s Ken Griffin?
Ken Griffin is taken into account probably the most prolific buyers of the previous 5 many years, having grown Citadel into a worldwide hedge fund juggernaut.
Issues began off modestly for Griffin, buying and selling from his Harvard dorm room again within the mid-Eighties and making use of quantitative fashions to information his bets.
He later launched his first fund in 1987 and effectively navigated the “Black Monday” crash with appreciable aplomb by way of well-timed brief positions.
Extra Fund Managers:
- Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater invests $253 million in main AI inventory
- JPMorgan builds $2.93 billion stake in well being care inventory
- Jim Simons’ Renaissance drops $520 million on surging tech inventory
Griffin formally based Citadel within the Nineties and grew its presence throughout shares, fastened earnings, and commodities, rapidly turning the hedge fund right into a dominant market-leading operation.
Citadel has additionally persistently shared its success with purchasers when efficiency is robust, somewhat than merely permitting the fund to swell in dimension.
For perspective, in December 2025, reviews confirmed that Citadel successfully deliberate to return practically $5 billion of 2025 earnings to its buyers in early 2026, Investing.com reported. With that payout cleared, the agency was anticipated to start 2026 with practically $67 billion in belongings underneath administration, down from $72 billion earlier than the distribution.
Furthermore, at a private stage, Griffin persistently ranks among the many richest people on Wall Road, boasting a internet value of practically $49.6 billion, based on Forbes.
Citadel’s greatest 13F swings
Prime buys (largest worth)
- Netflix (put choices): $3.44 billion
- Tesla (name choices): $3.15 billion
- Amazon: $2.52 billion
- Nvidia: $2.19 billion
- Meta Platforms (name choices): $2.16 billion
Supply: WhaleWisdom
Prime sells (largest worth)
- SPDR S&P 500 ETF (put choices): $8.21 billion
- Invesco QQQ Belief (put choices): $4.95 billion
- Invesco QQQ Belief (name choices): $2.88 billion
- Nvidia (put choices): $1.89 billion
- SPDR Gold Shares (name choices): $1.38 billion
Supply: WhaleWisdom
Prime holdings (p.c of portfolio)
- Invesco QQQ Belief (put choices): 3.34%
- SPDR S&P 500 ETF (put choices): 2.97%
- Tesla (name choices): 2.95%
- SPDR S&P 500 ETF (name choices): 2.74%
- Nvidia (name choices): 2.18%
Supply: WhaleWisdom
Betting billions on the AI buildout
Citadel’s $2.52 billion Amazon purchase seems like a conviction transfer because the inventory struggles to impress Mr. Market.
Amazon inventory took an enormous hit following its most up-to-date earnings report, which prompted buyers to fixate on a single eye-popping $200 billion capex quantity. Of late, buyers are in “show me” mode with AI, placing Amazon and different tech gamers underneath duress.
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Nonetheless, Griffin’s wanting on the larger image with Amazon persevering with to impress on the basics aspect.
Amazon posted a whopping $716.9 billion in 2025 internet gross sales, up 12%, with $80 billion in working earnings. Its cloud service in AWS alone is delivering an amazing $128.7 billion in income, surging 20%, with an attention grabbing $45.6 billion in working earnings besides.
Amazon’s free money circulation has tightened as effectively, hovering at round $11 billion, however with AWS’s backlog at round $244 billion, it’s clear that demand remains to be there.
And Amazon wasn’t the one main mega-cap AI inventory Griffin leaned into.
Citadel additionally expanded its Nvidia place by a sizeable margin, now value practically $4 billion, even with the inventory going through weak point.
In a latest piece, TheStreet tech professional Vuk Zdinjak notes that Financial institution of America stays bullish on Nvidia inventory, reiterating a purchase score and a $275 worth goal.
BofA’s Vivek Arya argues that regardless of the inventory’s latest wobbles, Nvidia stays on the coronary heart of the hyperscaler spending increase, lifting AI data-center addressable market estimates to a whopping $1.4 trillion by 2030.
Associated: Financial institution of America resets Nvidia inventory forecast
