Peter Thiel Places Big Bets on Energy, Amazon in Revamped Portfolio
Thiel Macro is suddenly back in action with a roster that seems less concerned about an AI bubble, and more concerned with an AI bottleneck.
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It’s a summer makeover for Peter Thiel: New country, new house and new $400 million investment portfolio.
The PayPal and Palantir co-founder decamped his family to Buenos Aires, Argentina, back in April, and his hedge fund Thiel Macro has since reoriented its portfolio around eight holdings (six new and two returning), according to the fund’s second-quarter 13F filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The disclosure reveals just how energized Thiel is about the energy sector.
Energy Shock
Thiel Macro last made waves when it revealed in its third-quarter filings last year that it had dumped a roughly $100 million stake in Nvidia. That move prompted fears of an AI bubble, back when that was a topic of daily discussion. The fund then reported two consecutive quarters of no holdings at all. After sitting on its hands, Thiel Macro is suddenly back in action with a roster that seems less concerned about an AI bubble and more concerned with an AI bottleneck.
Seven of the firm’s holdings are energy and energy utilities companies, which have suddenly found themselves at the center of the AI infrastructure rollout, while the eighth and largest holding is a familiar name in the AI game:
- The energy players include American Electric Power, which just signed on as partner for a 10-gigawatt data center in Ohio; FirstEnergy, CMS Energy, DTE Energy, Vista Energy, Vistra Energy, in which it had previously held a stake, and recently IPO’d nuclear developer X-energy.
- Amazon, meanwhile, is now the largest holding in the fund, with Thiel’s firm holding a $118 million stake in the e-commerce, cloud computing and AI giant; it last held a position in Amazon back in the fourth quarter of 2024. Amazon also owns a stake in X-energy.
Shale We Dance: Vista (not Vistra) is the fund’s second-largest holding, with a $76 million stake representing roughly 1% of the energy company. Vista bills itself as both the largest independent energy company and shale producer in Argentina, and Thiel’s interest in it is hardly surprising. Since moving to Argentina, the politically minded tech mogul has reportedly met several times with senior members of Argentina’s ideologically aligned President Javier Milei’s government, which has been intensely focused on attracting foreign investment into the country’s natural resources economy. Consider it a sign that Thiel is liking his new digs.
