Norway's $2.3 trillion wealth fund posts record $184 billion H1 profit, discloses SpaceX stake

Record half-year profit

Norway's Government Pension Fund Global, the world's largest sovereign wealth fund at approximately $2.3 trillion, posted a record profit of 1.75 trillion Norwegian crowns ($184.3 billion, about 159.7 billion euros) for the first half of 2026. The 9.4% return represented a 153% increase over the same period a year earlier and set a new high for a single half-year. The fund beat its benchmark index by 0.22 percentage points. CEO Nicolai Tangen of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), the central bank unit that manages the fund, attributed the result to equity markets.

The result is driven by good returns in the equity market, particularly from Asian technology stocks.

Returns by asset class and allocation

Equities returned 13% in the first half, fixed income 0.9%, unlisted real estate 3%, and unlisted renewable energy infrastructure -0.2%. In the second quarter alone, the fund returned 11.54%, with equities at 16% and fixed income at 1.1%. As of the first six months of 2026, 72.1% of the fund's assets were invested in equities, 25.8% in fixed income, 1.6% in unlisted real estate, and 0.5% in renewable energy infrastructure.

SpaceX disclosure and top tech holdings

On 11 August, the fund published an updated holdings list revealing for the first time a 0.05% stake in SpaceX worth $1.22 billion as of 30 June. The stake is modest compared with the fund's other technology positions. Its largest tech holdings as of that date were a 1.28% stake in Nvidia valued at $62 billion, a 1.24% stake in Apple at $52 billion, a 1.17% stake in Alphabet at $50 billion, a 1.27% stake in Microsoft at $35 billion, and a 1.7% stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) at $34 billion.

SpaceX shares rallied sharply after a record-breaking IPO in late June, then pulled back as investors questioned whether a valuation of 77 times expected revenue could be justified.

Fund scale and currency impact

The fund, which invests Norway's oil and gas revenues abroad, holds stakes in approximately 7,100 to 7,200 companies globally and owns on average 1.5% of all listed companies worldwide, making it the world's largest single investor. Its total value stood at about 22.68 trillion NOK (approximately 2.07 trillion euros) at the end of June, according to El Confidencial. Since 1998, the fund's average annual return has been 6.86%, reaching 9.39% over the last decade.

Currency movements trimmed the fund's value during the period. RTP and El Confidencial reported that the Swedish krone appreciated against several major currencies, reducing the fund's value by 427 billion NOK (about 38.96 billion euros). La Razón attributed the currency effect to the Norwegian krone instead.

Tangen's warning

At the Arendal political forum in southern Norway, Tangen cautioned that the fund could lose all its value under certain circumstances.

Can the fund disappear? The answer is yes. And the worst part is that, in the world we live in, that is not entirely improbable. There is no country in history that has managed to maintain such a large fortune over time. Fortunes always end up being lost.