Speaker · Updated
Nicolai Tangen: latest market views
Norges Bank Investment Management
Summary
Nicolai Tangen is CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages Norway's sovereign wealth fund, and host of the podcast In Good Company.
Chorus has 11 views from Nicolai Tangen across 2 episodes on In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen since October 23, 2026. Their latest calls: bullish on NextEra Energy.
Where they stand
Their latest bullish or bearish call on each company.
- NextEra EnergyBullish ·
What they talk about most
The latest views
Newest first. Every quote is checked against the episode's transcript.
NextEra EnergyBullish
NextEra is a world-leading, very strong utility that has profited greatly as power demand surges.
Energy was a flat, boring sector for years. Rising electricity demand worldwide is now driving very fast growth in power companies, both in grid and generation. Tangen calls NextEra one of the world leaders and a very strong US company, and says it has profited greatly from this shift.
“NextEra is one of those companies who has profited greatly from this, right? It's very interesting, because the whole energy space was really a boring space in the past, flat as a pancake.”at 0:35
In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen: Friday Wrap-Up: Nuclear, Batteries and Reflections from New York ·
AI infrastructure & data centers
Local opposition to data-centre build-outs over power prices and jobs is shaping licensing and permits.
Protests against data-centre build-outs are growing because residents do not want them in their neighbourhoods. The projects raise electricity prices for most people, and fears of job losses from AI adoption add to the resistance. This became a major issue in the midterm campaigns, and licensing and permissions may change after the election result.
“There's been a lot of protests against the data center build outs, because people don't want to have them in the neighborhoods. They lead to higher electricity prices for most people.”at 1:37
In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen: Friday Wrap-Up: Nuclear, Batteries and Reflections from New York ·
AI infrastructure & data centers
Established players with secured power supply gain share prices; new data-centre entrants will struggle to get energy.
Hyperscalers and established energy players have already locked in substantial energy supply, and their share prices rose on that. Newer players will find it harder to secure power, so the competitive landscape for AI infrastructure is being redrawn around access to electricity.
“some of the established players, their share prices went up because they already have secured quite a lot of energy supply going forward, while some of the new players, it will be more difficult for them.”at 2:13
In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen: Friday Wrap-Up: Nuclear, Batteries and Reflections from New York ·
Nuclear will grow in importance as baseload power for round-the-clock AI data-centre demand, with small modular reactors building out.
Data centres need power around the clock, so supply must be firm. Solar and other intermittent sources do not provide that, so nuclear becomes more important as base load. Tangen expects small modular nuclear stations to see a build-up.
“Absolutely. So you just need a supply. And it means that nuclear is going to be more important because you have the base load. The small modular nuclear stations, you will see a build up of that.”at 2:38
In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen: Friday Wrap-Up: Nuclear, Batteries and Reflections from New York ·
Battery storage is becoming more important because solar output is produced at different times than it is needed.
Solar and similar sources generate power at times that do not match when it is consumed. Batteries bridge that gap, so their role grows. The fund's first direct battery investment, a 10% stake in a venture with Brookfield, is one he expects could become the biggest battery platform in the US.
“What is also interesting, I think, is that batteries are becoming more important because you basically produce energy from solar and so on at a different time than you actually need it.”at 2:56
In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen: Friday Wrap-Up: Nuclear, Batteries and Reflections from New York ·
Renewable infrastructure returns improved once political backlash cut competition for green assets.
Early on, green infrastructure was a hot segment with strong competition and high prices, so potential returns were limited and the fund invested slowly. After a backlash tied to US politics, green investments fell out of favour. Competition eased and the assets became more interesting and profitable, so the fund accelerated, with deals in Spain, Portugal, the US and a 25% stake in TenneT Germany. Energy-supply diversification after Middle East events adds to the opportunity.
“we had a backlash against this, partly because of a change in The US politics. Then green investments became less popular, there was less competition, and they suddenly became a lot more interesting and profitable.”at 4:28
In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen: Friday Wrap-Up: Nuclear, Batteries and Reflections from New York ·
Fund won't lay off staff for AI; jury's out on how AI will reshape jobs broadly.
Tangen says his fund has committed not to lay off staff because of AI use. It will instead use AI to make the company more competitive and do more with the same number of people. He cites IKEA, which is reskilling staff rather than cutting jobs, and contrasts it with companies that will lay people off. He concludes that the jury is out and nobody knows how this will play out, calling it one of the biggest societal questions now.
“We have always said that we are not going to lay off people in the fund due to AI use. We rather use it to make the company more competitive, better, we can do more with the same amount of people.”at 1:28
In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen: Friday Wrap-Up: Lessons from Google’s Former CEO and Europe’s AI Regulation Problem ·
Over-regulating AI in Europe could stop development before it starts; Europe needs AI deployment.
Tangen argues Europe regulates far more than the US, which has more AI than regulation. He calls over-regulating AI in Europe 'potentially very unfortunate' because it can stop development before it starts. He says Europe's most urgent need is implementing AI, and cites Draghi's recent FT article arguing Europe must deploy AI wherever possible to stay competitive against rising Chinese competition. He also cites Norway's early regulation of Meta glasses in public places as an example of heavy regulation.
“I think over regulating AI in Europe is a potentially very unfortunate thing because you can really stop the development before it started and if there is one thing we need in Europe now, it's really implementation of AI.”at 2:42
In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen: Friday Wrap-Up: Lessons from Google’s Former CEO and Europe’s AI Regulation Problem ·
Enterprise AI adoption & AI software
Europe lost energy, chips, cloud and models; applications are its remaining AI opportunity.
Tangen says Chinese competition is becoming more forceful, so Europe must become more efficient. He argues Europe has already lost out across the AI stack: energy, chips, cloud and models. Application is therefore where Europe still has a chance. He says Europe suits this because it is highly educated and digital, and that the more efficient it becomes, the better. He ties this to the fund's 25% European allocation, saying he wants European companies to be more competitive so they earn more and the fund gains more.
“And if you look at the stack, we kind of lost out on the energy side, we lost out on chips, the cloud, the models. And so application is where we still could have a possibility.”at 3:15
In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen: Friday Wrap-Up: Lessons from Google’s Former CEO and Europe’s AI Regulation Problem ·
Enterprise AI adoption & AI software
Companies must change culture much faster for AI, and that change is very tough.
Responding to Eric Schmidt's point that most companies won't change culture fast enough for AI, Tangen agrees that firms must change much faster than they have. He explains that corporate culture is 'how we do things around here', which is hard to change after doing things one way for a long time. He says cultural change now needs more speed and agility, including a greater ability to change jobs.
“No, you need to change your culture much faster than you've done in the past and it's tough. Culture, you know, corporate culture, the definition of that is just how we do things around here.”at 4:14
In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen: Friday Wrap-Up: Lessons from Google’s Former CEO and Europe’s AI Regulation Problem ·
Men use about 1.6 times more AI tokens than women even excluding power users; a productivity worry.
Tangen says his fund examined token usage by gender, after a Harvard Business School study found women roughly 20% behind in AI usage. Men use two and a half times as many tokens as women. Nine of the ten heaviest users are men, and excluding them men still use about 1.6 times more. He calls this a real worry because AI is a productivity-enhancing tool. He says the gap needs attention across divisions, though his risk department shows women ahead. He also acknowledges token usage is an imperfect measure of outcomes.
“So excluding that still men are using roughly 1.6 times more tokens than women. And I think it's a real worry because it is a productivity enhancing tool that we use.”at 5:27
In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen: Friday Wrap-Up: Lessons from Google’s Former CEO and Europe’s AI Regulation Problem ·
Shows
- In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen · 2 episodes
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