Stanley Druckenmiller loaded up on Amazon and chip stocks before July rout
Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller ramped up his bets on stocks linked to artificial intelligence in the second quarter, as the technology sector regained a prominent role among his biggest holdings. Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Family Office dramatically increased its Amazon stake in the second quarter, lifting the value of the position to about $129 million, according to a regulatory filing. The firm also disclosed a new $120 million position in Alphabet , bringing the Google parent back into the portfolio after Duquesne exited the stock in the first quarter. The one-time lead portfolio manager for George Soros’s Quantum Fund also leaned further into semiconductors. He boosted his stake in Taiwan Semiconductor by 19% to $282 million and increased his position in STMicroelectronics by nearly 19% to $232 million. The two chipmakers finished the quarter as Duquesne’s second- and third-largest common-stock holdings. The Bowdoin College grad also added relatively small bets on AMD and Palo Alto Networks last quarter. The purchases came after a blistering second-quarter rally in technology and semiconductor shares, fueled by enthusiasm around AI spending. But many of those winners reversed sharply in July as investors questioned lofty valuations and the sustainability of the AI infrastructure boom. The filing only reflects Duquesne’s holdings as of June 30, leaving it unclear whether Druckenmiller held on to those positions through the July rout or adjusted his exposure after the quarter ended. Clinical genetic testing company Natera remained Druckenmiller’s top bet, worth more than $800 milion at the end of June. Druckenmiller is one of Wall Street’s most closely followed macroeconomic investors. He shot to fame after helping make the Soros fund’s roughly $10 billion bet against the British pound in 1992. He later oversaw about $12 billion as president of Duquesne Capital Management before closing the hedge fund in 2010 and converting his operation into a family office.
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