Norway’s $2 Trillion Sovereign Wealth Fund Posts 15% Return as Big Tech and Banking Boost Gains

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest of its kind, delivered a strong performance last year, recording a 15.1% annual return driven largely by gains in global equities and major technology holdings.

The fund, valued at approximately $2.2 trillion at the end of 2025, generated a profit of 2.36 trillion Norwegian kroner, equivalent to about $248 billion. This marked an increase from its value of roughly $2.08 trillion a year earlier.

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the fund on behalf of the Norwegian population, oversees investments originally sourced from the country’s oil and gas revenues. Established in the 1990s, the fund now holds stakes in more than 7,200 companies across 60 countries and owns approximately 1.5% of all publicly listed global equities.

Technology and Financial Stocks Lead Performance

According to NBIM, the fund’s 15.1% return was 0.28 percentage points, or about 50 billion kroner, below the benchmark index performance.

NBIM CEO Nicolai Tangen highlighted a “strong upturn” in global equity markets, noting that U.S. technology stocks made the largest contribution to returns, followed by financial sector holdings. The portfolio also delivered gains despite U.S. tariff increases during the year.

Tangen described 2025 as a period marked by “constant turmoil and surprises,” adding that solid corporate earnings, optimism surrounding artificial intelligence and central bank interest rate cuts helped support equity market growth.

“U.S. technology stocks contributed most to the positive return, driven mainly by the largest technology companies,” Tangen said in the fund’s annual report.

Nearly 40% of NBIM’s equity investments are allocated to U.S. stocks. Among its most valuable holdings are a 1.3% stake in Nvidia, a 1.2% stake in Apple and a 1.3% stake in Microsoft.

Asset Allocation and Sector Performance

Equities remain the dominant component of the fund’s portfolio, accounting for more than 71% of total assets, with a market value of around $1.6 trillion. Equity investments delivered a 19.3% return last year.

The fund’s unlisted renewable energy infrastructure portfolio generated an 18.1% gain. During the year, NBIM expanded its renewable power investments, including a stake in Germany’s largest electricity grid.

Fixed income investments, representing over 26% of assets at approximately $594 billion, returned 5.4%. Meanwhile, unlisted real estate investments recorded a 4.4% increase.

AI Integration and ESG Oversight

NBIM also confirmed it has begun using artificial intelligence tools to strengthen its ethical screening processes. The initiative started in late 2024 when the fund integrated Anthropic’s Claude model into its environmental, social and governance (ESG) assessments.

However, late last year, the fund temporarily suspended parts of its ESG evaluation process after criticism from the White House regarding its decision to divest from American company Caterpillar over ties linked to the conflict in the West Bank.

The fund’s latest results underscore the growing role of AI-driven market optimism, technology-sector dominance and renewable infrastructure expansion in shaping global sovereign investment performance.