Peter Thiel's hedge fund, Thiel Macro LLC, has disclosed its portfolio for the second quarter, and this report is not just dry statistics but a clear signal of where the next battle for dominance in artificial intelligence will unfold. Instead of the usual bets on semiconductor giants, Thiel has concentrated his capital on the fundamental foundation of any digital economy—electricity.
According to the latest 13F filing with the SEC, the fund's assets are valued at $418.7 million, distributed across eight positions. Notably, Thiel Macro had not disclosed its holdings over the previous two quarters, making this report especially telling. Now we see the strategy: Thiel is making a long-term bet that the key scarce resource for AI will not be computing power, but kilowatts.
Portfolio: From Amazon to Nuclear Energy
The largest position is Amazon (AMZN) with a 28.2% share ($118 million). It is the only tech giant in the portfolio, and the choice is no coincidence: the company has expanded its investment program for 2026 to $220 billion, directing most of the funds to cloud infrastructure and AI data centers. But the remaining 72% of the portfolio is pure energy.
In second place is Argentina's Vista Energy (VIST) with an 18.1% share ($75.9 million), which focuses on shale oil and gas extraction. This is Thiel's largest foreign investment, and it looks like a bet on global energy independence. The third position is Vistra (VST)—an operator of power plants, including nuclear units—with a 14.1% share ($59.1 million). Notably, the stake in Vistra was increased this quarter.
Four more positions—American Electric Power (AEP), DTE Energy (DTE), FirstEnergy (FE), and CMS Energy (CMS)—are utility companies with state-regulated tariffs, each accounting for 9–10% of the portfolio. The list is rounded out by nuclear-focused X-Energy (XE) with a share of less than 1%. AEP and FirstEnergy explicitly state that the construction of AI data centers is driving electricity demand to record levels.
A New Trend in AI Bets
As of June 30, when the positions were recorded, energy companies account for nearly 72% of the fund's assets excluding Amazon. This is not just diversification—it is an ideological shift. Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Palantir and one of the first investors in Facebook, now sees energy as the main "bottleneck" of the AI industry. Data center demands are overloading regional power grids, and whoever controls generation will control the pace of AI development.
My take: This is a smart move that many underestimate. While the market is fixated on chips and models, Thiel is investing in what will become the critical constraint within the next 2–3 years. Energy is the new "gold dust" for AI, and those who take positions here will reap disproportionate benefits when demand begins to outstrip supply by multiples. For the crypto industry, which also suffers from energy shortages, this is a signal: infrastructure is the real trend of the next cycle.