Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Leans Harder Into AI, Power, and Credit

The biggest dollar adds cluster around three themes: hyperscale AI platforms, the power grid that feeds them, and balance-sheet plays on a tighter credit regime. On the platform side, Microsoft, Nvidia, Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, and Meta are all increased, with no sign of profit-taking in the top-of-stack AI names.

What’s new is how explicitly they tie AI to power. The Constellation Energy position explodes by +5330.4% in shares, turning it into a $2.14B, 1.38% stake even though it currently sits about -23.3% versus CPPIB’s average cost. That is not a momentum chase; that is a high-conviction, forward-looking infrastructure bet that datacenter loads will structurally re-rate regulated and quasi-regulated power assets.

The other area of rising conviction is credit. Ares Management is up +70.1% in shares and now a $830.8M position despite being roughly -16.5% below their average buy price, and US money-center banks are being leaned into: JPMorgan is up +17.1% in shares to $1.92B and Bank of America is up +26.8% to $901.1M. They are clearly positioning for a prolonged environment where strong lenders and private-credit platforms capture spread while weaker borrowers struggle.

Within semis, they are rotating toward the plumbing rather than the headline: Micron’s shares are raised +31.6% to $882.2M and Applied Materials grows to $719.5M, both with very large gains versus cost, suggesting CPPIB sees sustained demand for memory and manufacturing tools as AI normalizes from a hype cycle into infrastructure.

The trims are surgical: CPPIB is not de-risking AI, it is upgrading it. Broadcom is cut -10.5% in shares and AMD is reduced -21.9%, even though both are deeply in the green versus cost. That capital is effectively being reallocated to Nvidia, Micron, and Applied Materials — away from already fully priced AI beneficiaries and toward names they view as offering better risk-reward deeper in the stack.

On the consumer side, Costco is trimmed -10.1% and Live Nation is cut -6.7% in shares, both after large gains, which looks like funding rather than a macro call against the consumer. They also take some profits in GE Aerospace and lightly reduce Shopify, two big long-term winners, again consistent with recycling gains into areas they now see as structurally underpriced.

In financials and infrastructure, the pattern is similar: Toronto-Dominion and TC Energy are gently reduced, while capital goes to JPMorgan, Bank of America, Canadian Imperial, and Enbridge. That suggests a preference for more diversified and higher-growth franchises and for pipelines with clearer long-term demand visibility over legacy midstream exposures.

The common thread is discipline: they trim where gains are large and where expectations are arguably fully embedded in price, and then average down into names like Constellation and Ares where their thesis is intact but the market has pushed prices below CPPIB’s own cost.

At the sector level, the book remains unapologetically tech-led, but the edges are moving. Technology’s weight dips slightly from 45.64% to 44.38% even as they add to most mega-cap platforms, because they are trimming select high-beta semis and some non-core tech exposure.

The real action is outside pure tech. Utilities jumps from 2.93% to 5.11%, nearly doubling on the back of the Constellation build and incremental adds in Cheniere, while TC Energy is modestly trimmed. Finance creeps up from 9.16% to 9.44% as US banks and Canadian Imperial gain weight and only Toronto-Dominion and Bank of Montreal are lightly reduced.

Consumer Discretionary slips from 11.56% to 10.87% with trims in Costco and Live Nation offsetting adds in Amazon, Walmart, and Netflix, indicating a shift from experiential and premium defensives toward e-commerce and big-box scale. Real Estate nudges down, even as they add modestly to Digital Realty and Equinix, because the sector label lumps in Mastercard, whose position is only modestly increased.

Health Care inches up from 3.46% to 3.64% with adds in Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, and Intuitive Surgical, reinforcing the idea that they want more secular, non-cyclical growth around the AI core. Energy and Industrials weights are roughly stable, but under the surface they are sliding from Canadian Natural and TC Energy toward Exxon, Chevron, Enbridge, and Tesla — a tilt toward integrated energy and long-duration transition plays.

Putting it together, CPPIB is signaling that the AI super-cycle is real but will increasingly be expressed through platforms, memory, capacity tools, and power — not just through the frothiest chip names. Their adds to Nvidia, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Micron, and Applied Materials show they think the market is underestimating the durability of AI-related capex and monetization.

Simultaneously, the huge repositioning into Constellation and the incremental build in Cheniere and Enbridge argue that they see power and energy infrastructure as the new toll roads of the digital economy. Even at a mark-to-market loss, they are willing to size up those names, which is a strong statement about their horizon.

The ramp in Ares, JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Canadian Imperial suggests they expect a more credit-constrained world where scale lenders and private-credit platforms gain profit share. Modest increases in Health Care stalwarts and consumer staples like Coca-Cola round out a book that is more resilient if growth disappoints but still geared to structural themes.

Investors reading this 13F should not see a retreat from risk after a weak quarter, but a rotation in how CPPIB wants to own that risk. They are exchanging some upside beta for higher-quality cashflows tied to the same secular drivers — AI compute, electrification, and a tougher credit cycle — and positioning the fund as a long-term landlord of those trends rather than a tourist in their most crowded expressions.