Q1 2026 rebalance redraws the AI governance leaderboard

SustainaCore published its Q1 2026 rebalance of the TECH100 AI Governance & Ethics Index, re-scoring 100 leading, large-capitalisation US-listed technology and growth companies across Transparency, Ethical Principles, Governance Structure, Regulatory Alignment and Stakeholder Engagement. The index's investable 'core' holds the top 25 names on an equal-weight basis (4% each), while the remaining 75 are monitored for momentum and potential future entry. This note focuses on what changed since the prior rebalance on 1 October 2025, and why it matters for readers tracking practical AI governance progress rather than marketing claims.

Key changes at a glance

The headline shift was at the bottom of the core list, where the cut-off tightened to a single point: Comcast entered at #25 with an AIGES Composite score of 69, while PayPal and AstraZeneca matched that score but ranked just outside the investable set at #26 and #27. Atlassian fell to #28. Two of the quarter's most consequential changes, however, were structural: Western Digital and Monolithic Power Systems joined the TECH100 universe at this rebalance and both debuted inside the top 25, signalling that smaller, hardware-adjacent names can break through when they meet the disclosure and governance bar.

Figure 1. Average AIGES Composite score: Broad TECH100 (Top 100) vs Core Top 25 (quarterly).

SustainaCore Press analysis suggests the quarter's improvement was broad-based, but most visible in two pillars: Transparency and Stakeholder Engagement. For the core Top 25, average Transparency rose by 3.64 points and Stakeholder Engagement by 4.16 points versus Q4 2025, lifting the average AIGES Composite score to 79.84 from 77.52. That pattern is consistent with more formalised disclosures, clearer oversight structures and more explicit stakeholder-facing commitments in AI-related risk management.

Figure 2. Core Top 25 average pillar scores: Q4 2025 vs Q1 2026.

Inside the core, the biggest positional gainer was Autodesk, up three places to #12, while Qualcomm climbed to #18 and NVIDIA moved to #4. In each case the move was less about dramatic single-name shifts and more about a rising baseline: several peers improved their composite scores by three to four points, compressing the middle of the table. Workday illustrates the flip side of that compression: its composite score slipped by one point, but it fell five places to #22 as competitors strengthened around it. At the top, Microsoft, Cisco and Alphabet held the first three positions, continuing to set the pace on multi-pillar consistency rather than isolated strengths.

Core constituents: Top 25 (equal-weight)

Table 1 lists the Q1 2026 core holdings and the direction of movement versus the prior rebalance.

Beyond composition, the index enters 2026 with a stronger governance baseline and a solid performance anchor: the TECH100 index level finished 2025 up 7.97% (from 1000.00 at inception on 2 January 2025 to 1079.72 on 31 December 2025), with annualised volatility of 23.75% based on daily log returns. SustainaCore Press will continue to track which firms translate policy language into measurable controls and disclosure, as that is typically where AI governance credibility is won or lost.