SAMA's US Stock Portfolio Jumps 61% to $7.63bn on AI Bets

SAMA's US Portfolio Swells Past $7.6 Billion as AI Wagers Pay Off

Saudi Arabia's central bank has significantly deepened its footprint in American financial markets, with newly disclosed filings showing a sharp jump in the value of its US stock and exchange-traded fund holdings during the second quarter of 2026.

According to a comparison of the bank's latest filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the market value of its disclosed US equity portfolio climbed 61.4 percent between April and June, reaching 2.9 billion from where the portfolio stood at the end of March, when it was valued at approximately $4.7 billion.

The scale of the jump immediately raises a question: was this simply a case of a rising market lifting existing positions, or did the bank actively add new shares? The data points firmly to the latter. Analysts examining the share-count changes across the portfolio found that the increase reflects genuine buying activity rather than passive appreciation, with the bank expanding its holdings broadly across hundreds of individual positions during the quarter.

A Portfolio Increasingly Tilted Toward Artificial Intelligence

What stands out most in the update is the consistent thread running through the bank's newly added and expanded positions: artificial intelligence and the infrastructure that powers it.

The first-quarter filing had already revealed sizable holdings in sector-specific ETFs alongside direct stakes in some of the biggest names driving the AI boom, including Meta Platforms, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF, Nvidia and Micron Technology. Those positions appear to have been substantially built upon in the second quarter, with the pace of increase ranging between 85 and 90 percent across 349 separate holdings — an unusually high and consistent growth rate that points to a deliberate, systematic strategy rather than opportunistic trading.

Among the newly disclosed additions, the largest was a 7 million in Millicom International Cellular and roughly $6.3 million in Elon Musk's SpaceX, underlining a portfolio that stretches beyond pure technology plays into energy transition and space infrastructure.

What the Filings Do — and Don't — Reveal

It is worth noting the limits of what these numbers actually show. The disclosures, known as Form 13F filings, are a regulatory requirement for institutional investors managing more than $100 million in US securities, and they capture only a snapshot of holdings subject to disclosure rules. They do not represent the central bank's complete balance sheet, nor do they reflect the totality of Saudi Arabia's foreign currency reserves or broader international investments, which are managed across multiple vehicles including the Public Investment Fund.

Even so, the filings offer a valuable window into how one of the region's key monetary authorities is positioning itself amid a global rush toward artificial intelligence infrastructure. Central banks and sovereign investors across the Gulf have increasingly diversified their reserve management strategies in recent years, moving beyond traditional fixed-income instruments toward selective equity exposure in high-growth sectors.

Part of a Broader Regional AI Push

The timing of this portfolio expansion is not incidental. Saudi Arabia has, over the past two years, positioned itself as one of the most aggressive global players in artificial intelligence infrastructure, backing multibillion-dollar data center projects, chip partnerships and AI-focused ventures such as Humain, the Public Investment Fund-owned AI company established to lead the Kingdom's push into the sector.

That national strategy appears to be mirrored, at least partially, in how the central bank is now allocating its disclosed US equity exposure. By increasing stakes in semiconductor and AI-adjacent companies, the bank's portfolio reflects the same conviction driving the Kingdom's domestic infrastructure investments: that computing power and artificial intelligence will remain central to global economic growth for years to come.

Market Context

The disclosure comes amid a turbulent period for regional and global markets, shaped by lingering geopolitical tensions in the Gulf and shifting expectations around US interest rates. Saudi Arabia's own stock exchange, the Tadawul All Share Index, closed largely flat on Monday, reflecting a cautious mood among domestic investors even as the central bank's US-facing portfolio posted striking gains.

For market watchers, SAMA's latest 13F filing offers more than just a set of numbers — it is a signal of how the Kingdom's financial institutions are reading the direction of global markets, and where they believe the next wave of value creation will come from. With AI infrastructure spending showing no signs of slowing globally, the central bank's expanded bet suggests confidence that the theme still has considerable room to run.

Whether this pace of portfolio growth continues into the third quarter will become clearer when the next round of institutional filings is due later this year. For now, the message from Riyadh's monetary authority is unambiguous: artificial intelligence remains a central pillar of its US investment strategy.

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