VanEck Semiconductor ETF Is Up 64% This Year and Doesn’t Own a Single Share of Apple - Yahoo Finance

The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) has surged 64.47% year-to-date through July 2, 2026, driven by a highly concentrated portfolio focused on leading semiconductor companies such as NVIDIA, AMD, Broadc... Read original →

VanEck’s SMH ETF surge reflects capital rotation into AI hardware infrastructure, not general tech exposure. Its exclusion of Apple and overweight in NVIDIA, AMD, and TSMC (Taiwan, China) signals a pure-play bet on AI accelerators and leading-edge foundry capacity. This concentration fuels demand for ASML’s High-NA EUV and drives up premiums for HBM memory and CoWoS packaging—creating upstream bottlenecks. Geopolitical friction, especially U.S. export controls, forces TSMC and Samsung to build costly, lower-yield fabs in Arizona and Japan, inflating capex. Intel, backed by CHIPS Act subsidies, is countering with its 18A node to challenge TSMC’s AI dominance. Over the next 12–24 months, this dynamic will split valuations: firms mastering advanced packaging, AI-specific IP, or equipment localization will command premium multiples, while second-tier players without deep tech moats face liquidity discounts.