Simplex Trading Llc Doubles Down On AI, Hedges With Gold And Duration

Rising-conviction buys cluster around three ideas: AI platforms, semiconductor supply chains, and large-cap growth with durable cash engines. The biggest statement is on AI compute itself: Nvidia is pushed to 8.15% of the book, with shares up 103.7% quarter-on-quarter, while Taiwan Semi and ASML appear as fresh, sizable positions.

On the software and internet side, the fund leans into the AI platform oligopoly rather than speculative apps. Alphabet (both share classes) and Meta see massive scaling — Meta’s stake is up 266.8%, Alphabet’s GOOGL line 664.3% — and Oracle and Microsoft are quietly enlarged as beneficiaries of cloud and AI workloads, even though Microsoft sits modestly below cost.

Consumer and index exposure also shows renewed appetite for quality growth beta. Amazon debuts as a top-five line at 4.93%, and SPY, QQQ, and XLF are ramped aggressively, with SPY shares up 131.7% and XLF up 834.2%. Layer in new PepsiCo and a larger Nike despite drawdowns, and the pattern is clear: Simplex is willing to buy bruised but structurally advantaged consumer and financial platforms alongside its AI core.

The funding sources tell you what Simplex no longer believes will drive the next leg. Apple is the poster child: the position is slashed by 94.4%, freeing roughly $169.8M of estimated capital, effectively demoting it from franchise core to residual stub despite a 36.5% gain versus cost.

Within semis, the rotation is from crowded, fully priced winners to earlier-stage and infrastructure names. Broadcom is cut by 81.4%, Intel by 30.0%, and the SOXX ETF is trimmed 25.5%, even as Nvidia, AMD, ASML, and niche player AXTI (shares up 97.9%, with a huge 455.7% paper gain) are pressed harder.

They are equally unsentimental about broken or peaking stories. Netflix is reduced by 73.2%, Novo Nordisk by 61.4%, Alibaba by 70.7%, Freeport-McMoRan by 56.8%, and SoFi by 46.4% — all sizable dollar reductions. The common thread: narrative fatigue (GLP‑1, China platforms, meme-y fintech, copper beta) and rising macro uncertainty, with capital re-routed to global AI and hard-asset hedges instead.

On the surface, tech dips from 50.41% to 46.83%, but that’s misleading; the risk isn’t leaving AI, it’s being concentrated into the perceived structural winners. Legacy megacaps and second-tier semis are shrunk, while Nvidia, TSM, AMD, ASML, Meta, Alphabet, and a new Astera Labs line anchor the growth spine.

The real story is the surge in what the fact sheet tags as "Unclassified" from 13.36% to 24.59%. That bucket is effectively a macro overlay: S&P 500 and Nasdaq trackers (SPY, QQQ), sector ETFs (SOXX, SMH, XLB, XLF), gold (GLD), oil (USO), uranium (URA), Treasuries (TLT), and investment-grade credit (LQD). This looks like a deliberate barbell between concentrated stock bets and highly liquid macro levers.

Defensives and non-cyclical buffers are also inching higher. Consumer staples goes from 0.0% to 0.92% with a new PepsiCo position, telecom/infrastructure moves from 1.07% to 2.46% via Lumentum and a new Charter stake, and industrials rise to 2.02% with bigger Union Pacific and Elbit Systems. Meanwhile, health care, finance, basic materials, energy, and real estate all give up weight, underscoring a tilt away from cyclicals and idiosyncratic policy risk.

Put together, this quarter reads as Simplex codifying a house view: AI platforms and semiconductor infrastructure are the growth engine, and everything else is there to modulate the ride. Nvidia at 8.15%, alongside new TSM and ASML stakes and a deeper Alphabet/Meta/Oracle stack, is not the posture of a manager worried that the AI cycle is over-extended.

At the same time, the gold, oil, uranium, and long-duration bond adds — GLD, USO, URA, TLT, and LQD — say they are very aware of macro fragility. If inflation re-accelerates or growth wobbles, those hedges and the broad ETFs (SPY, QQQ, XLF, XLB) give them room to pivot without blowing up single-name risk.

Going forward, expect more of this barbell: high-conviction AI and select industrial/telecom infrastructure names in the stock sleeve, paired with an increasingly sophisticated macro overlay. The notable de-emphasis on GLP‑1, China internet, and speculative fintech implies a willingness to walk away from crowded stories and concentrate risk where their models show the best risk/reward — even after a negative quarter.