World’s largest sovereign wealth fund returns 5.8% amid AI optimism
Norges Bank
Kristian Helgesen/Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund — the largest of its kind in the world — on Wednesday reported a 5.8% return during the third quarter, powered by strong stock market gains across basic materials, telecommunications and financial services.
Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) manages the fund on behalf of the Norwegian population. Set up in the 1990s to invest excess revenues from Norway’s oil and gas industry, the enormous fund currently invests in assets across 70 countries.
At the end of September, the Government Pension Fund Global had a value of 20.4 trillion Norwegian kroner ($2 trillion), an increase of 854 billion Norwegian kroner during the the three-month period. The accounting value was 1.03 trillion kroner, translating into a profit of $102.56 billion.
The fund’s return was 0.06% lower than the benchmark index, NBIM said Wednesday. The return on its equity investments for the quarter was 7.7%.
“The result is driven by strong returns in the stock market, particularly in basic materials, telecommunications and the financial sector”, Trond Grande, deputy CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, said in a statement.
U.S. stocks account for almost 40% of NBIM’s equity investments.
Among NBIM’s U.S. equity holdings are stakes in tech giants Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia and Microsoft. The fund is also a major shareholder in companies including JP Morgan Chase, Walmart, Eli Lilly and Coca Cola.
During the reporting period, stock markets were volatile, with the major U.S. averages seeing both selloffs and record highs as Wall Street grappled with U.S. tariffs and looked for clues on the trajectory for the American economy.
However, Big Tech stocks largely saw gains over the course of the quarter, as investors continued to bet big on the AI boom. More recently – and since the NBIM reporting period ended – volatility has taken hold of tech megacaps, amid growing concerns that an AI bubble is forming in equity markets.
Aside from its equity holdings, NBIM is also invested in fixed income, renewable energy infrastructure and real estate. The fund’s return on fixed income investments during the third quarter was 1.4%, while renewable energy infrastructure added 0.3%, as real estate returned 1.1%.
Overall, 71.2% of its investments are allocated to equities, 26.6% in fixed income, 1.8% in unlisted real estate, and 0.4% in renewable energy infrastructure.
Capital inflows into the fund reached 81 billion kroner after management costs during the period.
In early September, the fund announced a decision to invest $543 billion in a Manhattan office tower.
In the three months to Sept. 30, the Norwegian krone appreciated 0.7% against the U.S. dollar. Over the course of the year, the Norwegian currency has gained 12% versus the greenback.
Last month, NBIM drew the ire of the Trump administration following a decision from Norwegian officials to restrict the sovereign wealth fund’s investment activity in Israel.
The U.S. State Department told CNBC at the time that it was “very troubled” by the fund divesting its stake in New York-listed Caterpillar, a move that came amid concerns in Norway about certain companies’ ties to the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Firefly’s CEO Jason Kim reacts during the company’s IPO at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York City, U.S., August 7, 2025.
Jeenah Moon | Reuters
Last week’s liftoff also coincided with President Donald Trump‘s “space superiority” executive order, signed on Friday, that aims to create a permanent U.S. base on the moon.
Investors have also gained more clarity on the future of NASA following a whirlwind drama since Trump won the election.
Last week, the Senate confirmed Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator more than a year after he was first nominated to the position.
Trump withdrew the nomination from the Elon Musk ally earlier this year amid a public fallout, but renominated Isaacman in November.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was tapped to temporarily run the space agency in the interim.
Google parent Alphabet on Monday announced it will acquire Intersect, a data center and energy infrastructure company, for $4.75 billion in cash in addition to the assumption of debt.
Alphabet said Intersect’s operations will remain independent, but that the acquisition will help bring more data center and generation capacity online faster.
In recent years, Google has been embroiled in a fierce competition with artificial intelligence rivals, namely OpenAI, which kick-started the generative AI boom with the launch of its ChatGPT chatbot in 2022. OpenAI has made more than $1.4 trillion of infrastructure commitments to build out the data centers it needs to meet growing demand for its technology.
With its acquisition of Intersect, Google is looking to keep up.
“Intersect will help us expand capacity, operate more nimbly in building new power generation in lockstep with new data center load, and reimagine energy solutions to drive US innovation and leadership,” Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, said in a statement.
Google already had a minority stake in Intersect from a funding round that was announced last December. In a release at the time, Intersect said its strategic partnership with Google and TPG Rise Climate aimed to develop gigawatts of data center capacity across the U.S., including a $20 billion investment in renewable power infrastructure by the end of the decade.
Alphabet said Monday that Intersect will work closely with Google’s technical infrastructure team, including on the companies’ co-located power site and data center in Haskell County, Texas. Google previously announced a $40 billion investment in Texas through 2027, which includes new data center campuses in the state’s Haskell and Armstrong counties.
Intersect’s operating and in-development assets in California and its existing operating assets in Texas are not part of the acquisition, Alphabet said. Intersect’s existing investors including TPG Rise Climate, Climate Adaptive Infrastructure and Greenbelt Capital Partners will support those assets, and they will continue to operate as an independent company.
Alphabet’s acquisition of Intersect is expected to close in the first half of 2026, but it is still subject to customary closing conditions.
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