The New Competition Is Not Money, but Strategic Capital
Sertan Ayçiçek, CEO of IKAR Holdings and Chairman of the Board of Royal Funds, discusses the transformation of sovereign capital, the rise of strategic investment, and how governments are reshaping the global economic landscape.
State capital is no longer merely managing wealth. From artificial intelligence and energy to data infrastructure, it is helping shape the economic capacity of the future. Trillions of dollars in sovereign capital are no longer searching solely for financial returns. Instead, they are increasingly directed toward investments that define the economic infrastructure of tomorrow.
How will this transformation affect companies? What are the critical issues that businesses need to understand? We spoke with Sertan Ayçiçek, CEO of IKAR Holdings and Chairman of the Board of Switzerland-based Royal Funds. Ayçiçek also serves as a Council Member of the Sovereign Investor Institute and as Vice Chairman of the Geneva-based Swiss Academy. With experience across international institutions and strategic investment platforms, he continues to work on global capital, geopolitical developments, and economic transformation.
How is the traditional investment logic changing as sovereign capital is fundamentally redefined?
There was a time when sovereign wealth funds primarily managed oil and natural-resource revenues, acquired stakes in global companies, and accumulated wealth for future generations. Today, the picture is changing.
Capital is no longer used solely to invest in existing economic structures. It is also being deployed to activate new economic capacity. The world’s largest sovereign investors are no longer evaluating only which assets to allocate capital to, but also which technologies, infrastructures, and economic ecosystems can create long-term capacity.
The real transformation begins here.
One of the most striking examples is Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global. Managed by Norges Bank Investment Management, the fund is one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, with assets of approximately $2.3 trillion. In the first half of 2026, the fund reported a return of approximately 1.75 trillion Norwegian kroner, equivalent to around $184.3 billion.
The record performance was driven particularly by strong returns from technology companies. However, an even more noteworthy development was the fund’s first-ever disclosure of a position in SpaceX.
According to data published by Norges Bank Investment Management as of June 30, 2026, the fund held a position equivalent to approximately 0.05% of SpaceX, representing an investment of around $1.22 billion.
Why do you think this investment is significant?
This is not simply another major investment announcement. It is an important indication of the extent to which sovereign capital can participate in the technologies of the future.
At the same time, it introduces a new type of risk: concentration risk.
According to Norges Bank Investment Management’s first-half 2026 assessment, the combined value of the fund’s ten largest holdings accounted for approximately 20% of the portfolio. A significant portion of these companies operates in the technology sector.
Companies such as Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, and TSMC are becoming increasingly prominent.
Therefore, the sovereign wealth fund narrative today is no longer simply about the question, “How much capital are you managing?”
Where is the global economy’s future being shaped?
One important answer to this question comes from South Korea.
The South Korean government recently announced the creation of a strategic investment account within the Korea Investment Corporation (KIC). The structure is designed to provide long-term capital to strategic areas, including semiconductors, artificial intelligence data centers, physical AI, nuclear energy, space, aviation, quantum technologies, critical infrastructure, and economic security.
The critical aspect of this approach is that sovereign capital is not being used merely to make direct investments. It is being used to mobilize other sources of capital.
The new structure aims to bring together domestic and foreign investors while assuming the role of an anchor investor that connects sovereign wealth fund capital with private-sector investments.
The South Korean government is also seeking to benefit from KIC’s existing international investment expertise. This represents a broader approach than the traditional investment logic.
The question is no longer simply:
“Can this asset generate a return?”
It is increasingly:
“What economic capacity can this investment create?”
Do you see this as a new era for sovereign capital?
Capital is no longer being deployed solely to invest in existing economic structures, but also to activate new economic capacity.
This transformation can no longer be explained only through the concept of a “Sovereign Wealth Fund.” A broader concept is emerging: Sovereign Capital.
Alongside sovereign wealth funds, state-backed strategic investment vehicles, development funds, public-private investment mechanisms, and state-controlled investment companies are increasingly becoming part of the same ecosystem.
What these forms of capital have in common is that they are not merely seeking financial returns. They are also pursuing objectives such as economic resilience, technological capability, supply-chain security, and national competitiveness.
Large capital is no longer searching only for companies. What are the critical issues here?
A company entering the radar of sovereign capital may not necessarily be sufficient for long-term growth.
Corporate governance quality, long-term vision, the ability to scale globally, strategic alignment with key sectors, and compatibility with the economic priorities of the country in which the investment is made are becoming increasingly important.
In other words, large capital is no longer searching only for companies. It is looking for strategically positioned companies.
Therefore, the future of sovereign capital lies at the intersection of private equity and strategic institutional capital. The boundaries between these two forms of capital are becoming increasingly blurred.
This capital is expected to have a longer-term investment horizon than traditional financial investors. Its defining characteristic is that it is not focused solely on short-term financial outcomes.
For this reason, the competition of the future will not be defined only by access to capital.
It will increasingly be defined by the ability to transform capital into strategic capacity.
That is a much more significant shift.
Digital assets are also among the most notable areas of this transformation. How do you evaluate this development?
Here, the distinction between direct and indirect exposure is particularly important.
The Government Pension Fund Global of Norway does not directly hold Bitcoin. However, through its broad equity investment approach, it may have exposure to companies that are connected to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
In other words, the fund’s indirect exposure to digital assets can emerge through companies operating within the wider economic ecosystem surrounding these assets.
The United Arab Emirates provides a more direct example.
According to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and data for the end of 2025, Mubadala Investment’s position in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF increased to approximately 12.7 million shares.
The position of Abu Dhabi Investment Council-affiliated Al Warda Investments in the same ETF also reached approximately 8.2 million shares.
According to Bloomberg data, the combined value of these two positions exceeded $1 billion as of the end of 2025.
The conclusion that can be drawn from this is not that sovereign investors have universally classified crypto assets as a core investment category.
The more important point is elsewhere.
Sovereign capital can no longer ignore the economic effects that new financial technologies may create. Digital assets are therefore becoming one of the areas in which sovereign capital is testing its approach to emerging financial systems.
What are the implications of this transformation for the private sector?
The story of capital is no longer limited to the question:
“How fast are you growing?”
It must also address:
“What kind of economic transformation are you part of?”
Because, from the perspective of long-term sovereign capital, value creation does not begin with financial results alone. It begins with the economic capacity that can be built.
This transformation shows that sovereign wealth funds are no longer merely a matter of financial planning.
The long-term capital held by governments, combined with the innovation capacity of the private sector, can create new companies, new infrastructures, and entirely new economic centers.
For this reason, the intersection of sovereign capital and private capital is becoming one of the most important arenas of economic competition in the coming years.