Baillie Gifford Sells a Quarter of SpaceX, Buys Chip-Equipment Makers

By Rebecca Stone

Baillie Gifford reported $105.9 billion of U.S.-listed holdings at Sept. 30, down from $110.2 billion at June 30, and Nvidia — at $9.72 billion — overtook SpaceX as the firm's largest position, according to its Form 13F filed Nov. 9. The Edinburgh-based manager of Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust sold about a quarter of its SpaceX shares during the quarter while adding heavily to semiconductor-equipment makers and chip designers, MLQ.ai's comparison of the Q2 and Q3 filings shows.

The filing covers 874 entries across Baillie Gifford & Co and three affiliates, including Baillie Gifford Overseas. Nvidia's 42.6 million shares, after a 684,000-share add, now make up 9.2% of the reported book. SpaceX slipped to third, behind Amazon.

What happened to the SpaceX stake?

Baillie Gifford held 39.0 million SpaceX Class A shares at quarter end, down 24% from 51.4 million on June 30. The stake was worth $5.88 billion, down from $8.78 billion, as both share count and price fell — the filings imply roughly $150.85 a share at the end of September versus $170.86 at the end of June. At September's price, the 12.4 million shares no longer held were worth about $1.87 billion.

SpaceX listed on Nasdaq in June. Scottish Mortgage, a SpaceX investor since 2018, has sold shares as post-IPO lock-up periods expired; SpaceX fell from more than 25% of the trust's assets earlier this year to 15% at the end of September and 11.1% in early November, and it remains the trust's largest holding. The stock ended last week just under its $135 IPO price.

What did the firm buy?

The biggest additions by value sat in semiconductors and biotech. Baillie Gifford went from a token 58 shares of Lam Research to 3.50 million shares worth $1.15 billion, and nearly tripled its KLA holding to 2.65 million shares ($517 million). It roughly quadrupled its Arm ADR position to 1.86 million shares ($537 million), more than tripled Astera Labs to 0.79 million shares ($280 million), and opened a small SK Hynix ADR position worth $33 million.

On the biotech side, Alnylam more than doubled to 5.49 million shares, a $1.36 billion position. New positions outside technology include Cheniere Energy ($165 million), aerospace parts maker Loar ($140 million), Cavco Industries ($60 million) and Beta Technologies ($24 million).

Bending Spoons, the Milan-based owner of Evernote, Vimeo and WeTransfer, appears for the first time with 51.7 million shares worth $1.72 billion. That's a pre-IPO stake, not a new purchase: Bending Spoons priced its Nasdaq IPO at $29 on June 30, raising $1.68 billion, and existing holders including Baillie Gifford sold shares in the offering, making the remainder reportable on Form 13F.

What did it sell?

The sales ran broader than SpaceX. Baillie Gifford cut Moderna by 37% to 11.4 million shares, yet the position rose in value to $2.20 billion from $1.28 billion because the implied share price nearly tripled over the quarter. It sold 56% of its PDD shares, 54% of Roblox, 46% of Netflix, 43% of Coupang and 24% of Meta, and trimmed Amazon by 10%, Cloudflare by 12%, AppLovin by 21%, DoorDash by 24% and Shopify by 6%.

It exited Paycom Software ($123 million at June 30), WillScot ($121 million), Coursera ($87 million), Medtronic ($36 million) and Progyny ($31 million).

How concentrated is the book?

The portfolio stays concentrated. The 10 largest positions made up about 45% of reported value at Sept. 30, roughly unchanged from June 30, though the mix shifted. Three holdings gained value despite trims: Cloudflare rose to $4.46 billion from $3.58 billion, Shopify to $3.96 billion from $3.24 billion, and Moderna rose 72% in value. AppLovin went the other way, falling to $1.48 billion from $3.33 billion — a roughly 44% implied share-price drop on top of the 21% share-count cut.

Read together, the two filings show money moving out of consumer internet names — PDD, Netflix, Roblox, Coupang, Meta, DoorDash, AppLovin — and into chip-equipment makers and chip designers such as Lam Research, KLA, Arm and Astera Labs, with Nvidia still the anchor. The filings do not say why the firm made the trades.

One caveat. A 13F lists long positions in U.S.-listed securities at quarter end, valued at quarter-end prices; it shows neither trade timing nor prices, non-U.S. listings, private companies or short positions. The dollar amounts for shares added or sold are MLQ.ai estimates at Sept. 30 prices. Most large managers face a Nov. 14 deadline for third-quarter 13Fs, so the sector's next read on where growth money is heading arrives within days.