CalPERS Cuts Nvidia Stake 40% as AI Falls to 22% of Book

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) held 46.1 million Nvidia shares at the end of June 2026, down from 76.4 million at the end of December 2025, according to its 13F filings with the SEC. By our arithmetic that is a 39.7% cut in the share count, and ten big AI stocks fell to 22.4% of the value CalPERS reported, from 27.6%.

A 13F is the quarterly filing in which large US investment managers list the US-listed stocks they hold at the end of each quarter. We read the latest 13F filings of six large US public pensions on 23 October 2026, the same day The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times reported on pensions and AI stocks.

Business Pill · CAPEX AND DEPRECIATION

A short Business Engineer explainer on capital spending and depreciation. It teaches the general idea only and says nothing about any fund or company in this piece.

What the Filings Show

• CalPERS stands out. Ten AI stocks were 22.4% of its reported 13F value at the end of June 2026, the second-lowest of the six funds we checked after the Texas teachers’ fund at 17.9%, our arithmetic on the filings shows.
• The others held steady. At CalSTRS, the New York State Common Retirement Fund, Florida’s State Board of Administration and the New York State Teachers’ fund, the same ten stocks were between 26.1% and 27.5% at the end of June, slightly below December, the filings show.
• The newest filing. The New York State Teachers’ fund filed for the quarter to 30 September 2026 on 22 October; the ten stocks were 29.7% of its reported value, our arithmetic shows. The other five funds’ filings for that quarter were not on EDGAR when we checked on 23 October.

Source: each fund’s 13F-HR filing for the quarter to 30 June 2026 on SEC EDGAR, filed between July and August 2026 and parsed by FourWeekMBA on 23 October 2026. The ten AI stocks are Nvidia, Microsoft, Alphabet (both share classes), Amazon, Meta, Broadcom, Oracle, AMD, TSMC’s US-listed shares and Micron, matched by CUSIP, with options excluded. Shares are our arithmetic (AI value divided by total reported value). The New York State Teachers’ fund reports values in thousands of dollars; we converted them. CalSTRS figures use its restated 13F-HR/A.

What Was Posted on X

AI commentator Rohan Paul posted a summary of a Wall Street Journal report: 13 large US public pensions booked $138 billion in paper gains from AI stocks since late 2022, and 15 AI stocks made up 27% of those funds’ domestic equity in June, up from 12% when ChatGPT launched. The figures are the Journal’s as summarised in the post.

CalPERS, Holding by Holding

The share counts show that the drop at CalPERS came from smaller holdings, not only from lower prices. Between the two filings it cut its share count in seven of the ten stocks and raised it in AMD and Micron; it held no TSMC US-listed shares in either filing, the filings show.

Source: CalPERS 13F-HR filings for 31 December 2025 (filed 12 February 2026) and 30 June 2026 (filed 14 August 2026), SEC EDGAR. Share counts as filed; changes are our arithmetic. A 13F is a quarter-end snapshot, so it shows how many shares were held, not when or why they were sold.

Over the same six months, the total value CalPERS reported in its 13F rose to $177.38 billion from $174.90 billion, while its ten AI stocks fell to $39.78 billion from $48.22 billion, the filings show.

What the WSJ and FT Reported

The Wall Street Journal reported on 23 October that 13 large US public pensions booked $138 billion in paper gains from AI stocks since late 2022, according to a summary of its article that AI commentator Rohan Paul posted on X. The summary says 15 AI stocks made up 27% of those funds’ domestic equity in June, up from 12% when ChatGPT launched, and drove roughly 57% of their US stock gains. We read only that summary; the Journal’s list of 15 stocks and its method may differ from ours.

The Financial Times ran a story on 23 October headlined “Calpers retreats from Big Tech as AI rally falters”. We could not read the article and do not use its contents.

Connecting the Coverage

Our selloff piece reported that the AI stock selloff of 22 October moved US Treasuries, Japanese bonds, global credit spreads and gold, according to Reuters and Bloomberg. Our insurers piece reported that Moody’s counts about $85.2 billion of AI-related investments at US life insurers. What’s new: the same exposure sits in public pensions’ stock books, and their filings show it.

Our comptroller piece reported that New York City Comptroller Mark Levine, whose city pension funds have $7 million in exposure to Anthropic through private equity, urged a pause in Anthropic’s IPO, according to Reuters. The city funds are separate from the New York State funds in the table above.

The Structural Read

As we read it, the selling shows up beyond price moves: CalPERS reported a higher total 13F value in June than in December, $177.38 billion against $174.90 billion, while its ten AI stocks fell to $39.78 billion from $48.22 billion, the filings show.

As we read it, CalPERS did not sell across the board: its filings show fewer shares in seven of the ten stocks and more in AMD and Micron.

As we read it, the WSJ figures and ours measure different things: the summary of the Journal’s article covers 13 pensions and 15 AI stocks, while our table covers six 13F filers and ten stocks, so the numbers are not directly comparable.

Three Implications

FOR PENSION MEMBERS The 13F filings show what each fund held in US-listed stocks at the quarter end; they do not cover bonds, private equity or foreign-listed shares.

FOR AI COMPANIES’ SHAREHOLDER BASES At four of the six funds, the same ten AI stocks were between 26.1% and 27.5% of reported 13F value at the end of June 2026, the filings show.

FOR READERS TRACKING THE NEXT FILINGS The New York State Teachers’ fund filed its 13F for the quarter to 30 September 2026 on 22 October; the other five funds’ filings for that quarter were not on EDGAR when we checked on 23 October.

The Business Engineer Lens

This story maps onto the Business Engineer framework The AI Capex Map.

The framework describes the Big Four’s 2026 spending as “the largest single-year concentrated infrastructure cycle in the history of technology.”

As we read it, public pensions own a slice of that cycle through the same companies’ shares, which is what their 13F filings show. The framework was published in May 2026 and does not discuss pensions.

What Is Not Established

A 13F covers only US-listed stocks and some options held at the quarter end; it leaves out bonds, private equity, private credit, foreign-listed shares and cash, so the shares above are shares of each fund’s 13F holdings, not of its total assets. The filings do not say why CalPERS sold, whether the sales came from internal or external managers, or whether index changes played a part.

Our list of ten AI stocks is our own choice and is not the same as the Journal’s 15. We did not contact the funds. Nothing here is investment advice.

The Bottom Line

CalPERS cut its Nvidia shares by about 40% in the first half of 2026, and ten AI stocks fell to 22.4% of its 13F value, its filings show. At the five other pensions we checked, the same stocks were between 17.9% and 27.5% at the end of June.