KODEX US Semiconductor MV, Individual Cumulative Net Purchases Exceed 50 Billion This Year

104% Return Since Inception Ranks 1st Among All ETFs in the Same Period

Individual investors' investments in the U.S. semiconductor sector are remarkable. The AI semiconductor boom, which started with Nvidia last year and has been validated by returns, is leading to a concentrated investment trend in U.S. semiconductor ETFs.

Samsung Asset Management announced on the 7th that the cumulative net purchases by individuals in the 'KODEX U.S. Semiconductor MV' ETF since the beginning of the year reached 51.6 billion KRW, marking the largest scale among 32 domestically listed semiconductor ETFs. Out of 44 trading days since the start of the year, net purchases by individuals continued on all but two days. The net assets recorded 227.6 billion KRW.

Since the end of last year, as investment demand for global AI semiconductor companies has continued, semiconductor ETFs have shown differentiated performance. Nvidia, a representative AI semiconductor company, is continuously expanding not only its market dominance but also its future earnings outlook. The proportion of Nvidia investments within ETFs is determining the differences in product returns.

KODEX U.S. Semiconductor MV has the highest Nvidia investment ratio among domestically listed semiconductor ETFs at 26.8%. Its return over the past year ranks among the top with 89.7%. Since its inception in June 2021, the return has been 104.1%, showing the best performance among ETFs excluding leveraged ones, achieving top-level results in both mid- and short-term returns.

The same trend is observed in the U.S. The ‘MV Semiconductor Index,’ which currently has a 26.8% Nvidia weighting, is outperforming another semiconductor index, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX). While the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 16.9% since the beginning of the year, the MV Semiconductor Index increased by 26.1%.

The MV Semiconductor Index is the underlying index tracked by KODEX U.S. Semiconductor MV and is the basis for SMH (VanEck Semiconductor ETF), the largest U.S. semiconductor ETF with approximately $17.1 billion (about 23 trillion KRW) in assets. It includes 25 global large-cap semiconductor companies across the semiconductor industry, including fabless, foundry, memory, semiconductor design software and equipment, and next-generation power semiconductors listed in the U.S.

Unlike the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which invests up to 8% in a single stock, the MV Semiconductor Index can concentrate investments up to 20% in core companies. The investment proportions in AI semiconductor-related companies such as Nvidia (26.8%), TSMC (9.3%), AMD (6.2%), Broadcom (5.8%), and ASML (5.0%) are relatively higher compared to other underlying indices. Nvidia’s weighting was only in the 7% range just three years ago but has naturally increased to the 20% range recently. The ‘MV Semiconductor Index’ is regarded as best reflecting the changes and growth in the semiconductor industry.

Han Dong-hoon, a manager at Samsung Asset Management, said, "Just as the SMH ETF has become the largest global semiconductor product in the U.S. based on excellent returns, KODEX U.S. Semiconductor MV is also gaining attention from domestic investors by achieving outstanding short- and long-term performance." He added, "It will be a good investment product for investors who want to invest not only in core AI semiconductor companies but also in future ‘post-AI semiconductor companies.’"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.