Tom Slater Stays the Course: Scottish Mortgage CIO Bets on SpaceX, Musk, Meta & Long-Term Innovators

Scottish Mortgage, the UK’s largest investment fund, is sticking with Elon Musk’s companies—SpaceX and Tesla—even amid political turbulence involving Musk and Donald Trump, the FD reports. Together, these holdings make up nearly 10% of the fund’s £14.2B portfolio. Fund manager Tom Slater says they focus on long-term fundamentals and exceptional entrepreneurs, not political noise: “We try to look through the noise.”

Despite cutting their Tesla stake last year—while the market was hyped about Musk’s ties to Trump—Slater saw that rally as irrational. Meanwhile, SpaceX remains their largest position, even though Trump recently hinted at canceling government contracts with Musk’s companies. Slater isn’t too concerned, arguing NASA depends on SpaceX’s unique capabilities, like launch capacity and the Starlink satellite network.

Scottish Mortgage has a strong track record of early bets on future giants: Amazon (2004), Nvidia (2016), and ASML among them. They accept losses like the £315M written off in battery firm Northvolt as part of the strategy. That loss, however, made them more cautious with capital-hungry startups.

Recently, the fund sold much of its Nvidia stake, questioning the long-term sustainability of its high margins and the rising trend of major clients designing their own chips. Instead, they’ve increased their position in Meta, which uses AI to fundamentally improve its business. As Slater puts it, they’ve shifted from backing the “picks and shovels” of AI to backing those who use AI to build value.

Y.W.