Harvard’s endowment hits $68 billion on SpaceX and AI bets

Harvard’s endowment had the kind of year most fund managers only describe in hypothetical pitch decks. The university’s investment pool returned 27.1% for fiscal year 2026, which ended on June 30, 2026. That pushed the endowment to a record $68 billion, an increase of $11 billion from the prior year. The big drivers were a sizable SpaceX position and a cluster of artificial intelligence investments. In a year when the median large endowment returned roughly 18.9%, Harvard finished more than eight percentage points ahead. Rocket fuel for the portfolio The headline holding is SpaceX. Harvard Management Company (HMC), which runs the endowment, disclosed a $2.2 billion stake in the company in August 2026. That single position made up more than half of HMC’s $4.3 billion US equities portfolio at the time. It is now the endowment’s largest single public equity stake. SpaceX went public in June 2026, just before the fiscal year closed. The offering became the largest IPO in history, with the company valued at over $1.8 trillion after its debut. SpaceX was not the only bet that paid off. HMC also built out its AI and tech exposure during the year. The firm established a position worth appr...