Best Semiconductor ETFs to Buy in Singapore

The semiconductor market is moving from a strong upcycle into something far more extreme. Global sales reached US$795.6 billion in 2025, up 26.2% year on year, and the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics organisation now forecasts US$1.51 trillion in 2026, equivalent to roughly 90% growth in a single year. 

The biggest driver is not logic chips but memory, where revenue is projected to surge around 250% as AI servers compete for high-bandwidth memory and supply remains tight. Logic revenue, by comparison, is forecast to grow 37%.

That forecast captures the scale of the AI infrastructure boom, but it also shows how dependent the current cycle has become on memory prices and continued spending by hyperscalers. 

Semiconductor returns rarely move in a straight line. The iShares Semiconductor ETF fell 35.0% in 2022 before gaining 66.9% in 2023, illustrating how quickly the sector can move between downturn and recovery.

Singapore is not watching this shift from the sidelines. The Economic Development Board says the country attracted more than S$30 billion in semiconductor investment between 2022 and 2025. Singapore now produces about one in every 10 chips and one in five semiconductor-equipment units worldwide, placing it directly within the global supply chain powering AI, data centres, vehicles and consumer electronics.

But a semiconductor ETF is not a single, standardised investment. One fund may concentrate on Nvidia and other large chip designers, another may spread its weight across smaller companies, while others target foundries, manufacturing equipment, memory producers or the wider supply chain.

Choosing between them means comparing:

• Broad semiconductor exposure against specialised fabless, memory or supply-chain strategies
• Concentrated market-cap-weighted funds against more evenly weighted portfolios
• US-listed ETFs against Ireland- or Luxembourg-domiciled UCITS funds
• Holdings overlap, fund size, liquidity, fees and access from Singapore

This guide compares the main US and UCITS semiconductor ETFs available in Singapore, what each fund actually owns and where it can fit within a broader portfolio.

What is a semiconductor ETF?

A semiconductor ETF is an exchange-traded fund that invests in companies involved in designing, manufacturing or supplying semiconductors and the equipment used to produce them. It gives investors exposure to a basket of chip-related companies through one listed fund rather than requiring them to select individual stocks.

However, the semiconductor label only identifies the sector. It does not tell you which parts of the industry the ETF owns or how heavily each company is weighted.

For example, the iShares MSCI Global Semiconductors UCITS ETF held 260 securities as of 31 May 2026, spanning semiconductor companies across developed and emerging markets. By comparison, the State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF uses a modified equal-weighted index, giving smaller chip companies more influence than they would receive in a conventional market-cap-weighted fund.

The fund’s actual exposure is determined by:

• Which parts of the semiconductor value chain are eligible
• Country and exchange-listing rules
• Revenue-purity and ESG screens
• Market-cap, equal-weight or factor-based weighting
• Limits on individual company positions
• Rebalancing rules
• Physical or synthetic replication

A concentrated market-cap-weighted ETF and a broader equal-weighted fund can therefore respond very differently to the same semiconductor cycle. The fund name is only the starting point; the index and holdings provide the real answer.

Semiconductor value chain explains

The reason two semiconductor ETFs can look so different comes down to where each one sits in the value chain. Chip design, manufacturing, equipment, memory and testing are separate businesses with different economics, and most indices capture only some of them.

This distinction matters across different parts of the cycle. Higher demand for AI processors may benefit chip designers, but expanding production capacity can also support foundries and equipment suppliers. Rising high-bandwidth memory prices may benefit memory producers without producing the same gains across analog or automotive-chip companies.

Types of semiconductor ETFs

Once the value-chain exposure is clear, the next distinction is how the fund selects and weights its companies.

The Hong Kong-listed Global X Asia Semiconductor ETF covers Asian companies involved in areas such as chip design, foundries, semiconductor equipment and materials. The Global X China Semiconductor ETF focuses specifically on China’s semiconductor industry, including design, manufacturing, packaging, testing and equipment. 

Leveraged and inverse products are excluded from every comparison in this guide. Most reset their exposure daily, meaning their returns over weeks or months can differ significantly from the stated multiple of the underlying index, particularly in volatile markets. 

Best way to invest in semiconductor ETFs

Semiconductor ETFs can be volatile, making regular investing a practical way to build exposure without trying to time every market move.

With StashAway ETF Explorer, investors can choose an ETF and automate recurring investments using cash or SRS. ETF Explorer normally charges US$1, excluding GST, per buy or sell order, with no additional management fee. Invest in the same ETF Explorer portfolio each month and buy orders can remain free in the following month.

This can be especially useful for smaller monthly investments, where recurring transaction fees would otherwise reduce the amount invested.

Main indices behind semiconductor ETFs

Before comparing fees, compare the index. This determines which companies qualify, which countries are represented and whether returns are dominated by the largest chipmakers.

Why semiconductor ETFs can matter in a portfolio

A semiconductor ETF can add a deliberate sector tilt to a portfolio built around a broad global, S&P 500 or Nasdaq-100 fund. It provides more concentrated exposure to the companies supplying chips, memory and manufacturing equipment, but it should sit alongside a diversified equity core rather than replace one.

The main benefit is precision. Broad indices already hold companies such as Nvidia, Broadcom and AMD, but semiconductor exposure is diluted by software, financials, healthcare and other sectors. A dedicated fund increases the portfolio’s sensitivity to AI infrastructure spending and the semiconductor cycle.

Global semiconductor ETFs can also add companies that may be underrepresented in a US-focused portfolio, including TSMC, ASML, SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics and Tokyo Electron.

The type of fund determines the tilt:

• Market-cap-weighted funds concentrate more heavily in the largest industry leaders.
• Equal-weight funds such as XSD reduce reliance on a few mega-caps but increase exposure to smaller, more cyclical companies.
• Memory funds such as DRAM are narrow cycle positions rather than substitutes for broad semiconductor exposure.

The main risk is overlap. Investors already holding the Nasdaq-100, a broad AI ETF or several semiconductor funds may repeatedly add the same top holdings without meaningfully improving diversification.

You’re right. The problem was the extra source citations I appended after the clean hyperlinks. Those citations reintroduced tracking parameters. Here is the same section with clean hyperlinks only and no appended links.

Asia-focused semiconductor indices

Asian semiconductor indices differ mainly by geography. Regional benchmarks spread exposure across several markets, while country-specific indices concentrate on Taiwan’s foundries, Korea’s memory producers, Japan’s equipment makers or China’s domestic chip ecosystem.

Funds listed in Asia but tracking US or global semiconductor indices are excluded.

The regional indices provide the broadest Asian exposure. The FactSet Asia Semiconductor Index is centred on Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, while the Solactive benchmark gives more weight to Hong Kong-listed Chinese chip companies.

Country-specific indices create more deliberate tilts. Taiwan funds lean towards foundries and chip design, Korean funds towards memory, and Japanese funds towards equipment, testing and materials. They should be treated as regional positions rather than substitutes for a globally diversified semiconductor ETF.

Top US-domiciled semiconductor ETFs

US-domiciled funds offer the widest range of semiconductor strategies, from concentrated large-cap and equal-weight portfolios to fabless, AI-compute and memory-focused exposure. The market is dominated by SMH and SOXX, but lower-cost, factor-based and specialised alternatives provide materially different holdings.

The table covers the 10 unleveraged US-domiciled funds with a dedicated semiconductor, fabless, AI-chip or memory mandate. Leveraged, inverse, single-stock and broad technology ETFs are excluded.

Holdings and weights are based on the latest issuer disclosures available between 30 June and 13 July 2026.

Top Ireland- and Luxembourg-domiciled UCITS semiconductor ETFs

The UCITS semiconductor market is smaller than the US-listed universe, with seven funds covering six distinct indices or strategies. Five provide broad semiconductor exposure, one extends across the global supply chain, and one focuses specifically on memory. The table uses ISINs because UCITS tickers vary by exchange and trading currency, while the ISIN uniquely identifies each share class.

Holdings and weights are based on the latest issuer disclosures available between 29 May and 10 July 2026. The two Amundi funds track the same index and hold the same underlying portfolio; the difference is that one reinvests dividends while the other distributes them.

SMH vs SOXX vs SOXQ vs XSD

SMH, SOXX, SOXQ and XSD compete most directly as core US-listed semiconductor ETFs, but they follow four different indices. SMH is the most concentrated in the largest industry leaders, SOXX and SOXQ use modified market-cap weighting, while XSD spreads exposure more evenly across large-, mid- and small-cap companies.

Fund size and holdings are based on issuer disclosures as of 10 July 2026. Top-10 weights use the latest available holdings data: 30 June for SMH, 10 July for SOXX and XSD, and 9 July for SOXQ. The holdings count refers to the fund rather than the benchmark and may include cash or other fund-level positions.

SMH has the highest concentration. Nvidia represented 17.55% of the fund at the end of June, while its ten largest holdings accounted for 70.24%. It is the most direct option for investors who want returns to be driven by the industry’s largest leaders, but it also carries the greatest dependence on those companies.

SOXX holds 30 semiconductor and equipment companies, with its ten largest positions accounting for about 60.15%. Its portfolio is flatter than SMH’s, although it remains firmly concentrated in large-cap names. It also has the tightest reported 30-day median bid-ask spread in this group at 0.04% as of 10 July 2026.

SOXQ provides similar large-cap semiconductor exposure at a lower 0.19% expense ratio. It does not track the same index as SOXX: SOXQ follows the PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index, while SOXX follows the NYSE Semiconductor Index. Its lower fee comes with a much smaller asset base.

XSD is the clearest structural alternative. Its modified equal-weight approach reduces the top-10 concentration to about 28%, compared with roughly 60% to 70% for the other three funds. That gives smaller semiconductor companies more influence, but also raises exposure to businesses that can be more volatile and cyclical.

VanEck vs iShares vs Amundi vs HSBC semiconductor UCITS ETFs

All four core UCITS options charge 0.35%, but their portfolios differ substantially. VanEck is the most concentrated, iShares has the broadest company and market coverage, Amundi places more weight on the largest global chipmakers, while HSBC sits between the two through an 80-company Nasdaq index.

Fund sizes and portfolio data are based on the latest disclosures available from 31 May to 10 July 2026. Amundi’s 74 holdings and 80.99% top-10 weight are based on its 30 June factsheet, replacing the earlier 65-holding estimate. 

The identical fee does not produce identical exposure. VanEck and Amundi are heavily influenced by their largest holdings, while iShares spreads assets across far more companies and includes large-, mid- and small-cap stocks from developed and emerging markets. HSBC offers fewer holdings than iShares but broader local-market access than a US-listed-only index.

US-listed ETFs vs UCITS semiconductor ETFs

The domicile affects dividend treatment, estate-tax exposure, available share classes and exchange access. These structural differences can matter more than a small gap in the headline expense ratio.

The US–Ireland tax treaty generally caps qualifying US dividend withholding at 15%, while the IRS applies a 30% statutory rate to US-source dividends paid to nonresident investors unless a treaty reduction applies. Singapore does not have a US income-tax treaty reducing that dividend rate. The US estate-tax filing threshold for a nonresident non-citizen is generally US$60,000 of US-situated assets. 

Semiconductor ETFs usually have low dividend yields, so the withholding difference has less impact than it would for an equity-income fund. Domicile, estate-tax exposure, accumulating share classes, brokerage access and trading costs are often the more consequential differences.

Semiconductor ETF vs Nasdaq-100, AI ETF and broad technology ETF

These fund categories overlap, but they target different parts of the technology market.

Holding a semiconductor ETF alongside the Nasdaq-100 creates a deliberate chip-sector overweight rather than adding an entirely new return source. Combining a broad AI ETF with a semiconductor fund can increase the duplication further because both may hold Nvidia, Broadcom, AMD, TSMC and major equipment companies.

Currency exposure: SGD, USD and the currencies inside the ETF

Three separate currencies can affect an ETF investment:

• Trading currency: The currency used to buy and sell the ETF on an exchange.
• Fund base currency: The currency used to calculate and report the fund’s net asset value.
• Underlying currency exposure: The currencies associated with the companies and assets held by the fund.

The trading currency is mainly an execution choice. A global semiconductor ETF bought in USD can still be exposed to the Taiwan dollar, Korean won, Japanese yen and euro through companies such as TSMC, SK Hynix, Tokyo Electron and ASML. Similarly, buying a GBP trading line of the same UCITS share class does not convert its underlying investments into sterling. UCITS ETFs can have one base currency while trading in several listed currencies. (Vanguard)

Only an explicitly currency-hedged fund attempts to reduce movements between the underlying currencies and a specified reference currency. Even then, hedging can reduce rather than completely eliminate currency effects. (BlackRock)

The real cost of owning a semiconductor ETF

The TER is the most visible cost, but it is not the total amount that affects an investor’s return. 

Investor-level ownership cost ≈ tracking difference + brokerage + FX conversion + bid-ask spread + platform fees + reinvestment costs

When tracking-difference data are unavailable, investors can instead assess the TER alongside internal withholding taxes, replication costs and securities-trading drag.

Consider a US$1,000 purchase of SOXQ. A broker charging US$3.80 per order creates an immediate commission cost of 0.38%. The same purchase through StashAway ETF Explorer costs US$1 per order, excluding GST, equivalent to 0.10% of the investment. 

That one-off 0.10% transaction cost is smaller than the 0.16-percentage-point annual TER difference between SOXQ at 0.19% and SMH at 0.35%. However, transaction fees apply whenever an order is placed, while the TER is deducted every year for as long as the fund is held. Trading costs therefore matter most for small or frequent purchases, while TER becomes more important as the position grows and the holding period lengthens.

Tax considerations for investors in Singapore

For individuals investing personally, gains from selling shares and financial instruments are generally not taxable in Singapore. However, gains may be taxed when the activity is considered income from a trade or business rather than a personal investment. 

Foreign dividends received directly by a Singapore-resident individual are also generally exempt from Singapore income tax. Taxes deducted overseas before the dividend reaches the investor or fund are not refunded simply because the income is exempt in Singapore. 

US-domiciled ETF considerations

Shares in US-domiciled ETFs are generally treated as US-situated assets for estate-tax purposes.

US-source dividend distributions paid to a nonresident investor are generally subject to 30% withholding unless a lower treaty rate applies. Singapore does not appear among the countries covered by the US income-tax treaty list, so an individual resident in Singapore generally cannot claim a reduced treaty rate on ordinary US dividends. Some ETF distributions, such as qualifying interest-related or capital-gain distributions, may receive different treatment.

For a non-US citizen who is not resident in the US, an estate-tax return is generally required when the fair market value of US-situated assets exceeds US$60,000 at death. The filing threshold applies to the combined value of US-situated assets, not to each ETF separately. 

UCITS considerations

Shares in Ireland- or Luxembourg-domiciled UCITS ETFs are not shares in US-domiciled funds and therefore do not create the same direct US estate-tax exposure at the investor level.

An Ireland-domiciled ETF that qualifies for treaty benefits generally incurs 15% withholding on dividends received from US companies under the US–Ireland tax treaty. The tax is deducted inside the fund before the remaining dividend is reinvested or distributed. 

This does not mean every dividend inside a UCITS semiconductor ETF is taxed at 15%. Dividends from Taiwanese, South Korean, Japanese and other non-US companies are subject to the rules and treaty arrangements applying between the source country and the fund’s domicile.

UCITS is also a regulatory structure, not a domicile. The VanEck, iShares, HSBC, First Trust and Defiance funds covered in this guide are domiciled in Ireland, while the Amundi semiconductor ETFs are domiciled in Luxembourg. Their tax treatment should therefore be assessed according to the specific fund domicile and structure rather than assuming every UCITS ETF receives identical treatment.

Where to buy semiconductor ETFs in Singapore

After deciding which semiconductor strategy fits your portfolio, the next consideration is whether your platform supports the ETF’s exchange listing and trading currency.

The largest US-domiciled funds, including SMH, SOXX, SOXQ and XSD, trade on US exchanges. Ireland- and Luxembourg-domiciled UCITS funds from VanEck, iShares, Amundi and HSBC are commonly available through European exchanges such as the London Stock Exchange and Xetra.

Access therefore varies considerably between platforms. Some local brokerages cover Singapore, US and UK markets but charge relatively high minimum commissions. Global brokers generally offer lower trading costs and wider exchange access, while simplified investment platforms can be more practical for smaller or recurring purchases.

The cheapest platform depends partly on order size. A percentage-based fee may be competitive for smaller trades, while a flat commission can become more efficient as the investment amount increases. Minimum commissions, currency-conversion spreads, custody charges and exchange access should be considered alongside the advertised trading fee.

Availability should also be checked using the ETF’s full name, exchange and ISIN rather than its ticker alone. UCITS ETFs can use different tickers across their USD, GBP and EUR trading lines, and the same ticker can occasionally refer to unrelated funds on different exchanges.

Can you use SRS to buy semiconductor ETFs?

Yes, although the range available for direct purchase is narrower than it is for cash-funded brokerage accounts. Traditional SRS brokerages primarily support eligible SGX-listed investments and may not provide direct access to US-listed or London-listed semiconductor ETFs.

StashAway provides two ways to invest SRS funds:

General Investing offers professionally managed and globally diversified ETF portfolios. Portfolio construction, rebalancing and risk management are handled automatically rather than requiring investors to select a semiconductor ETF directly.

ETF Explorer allows investors to build personalised ETF portfolios across more than 90 asset classes. This can be used for one-time or recurring SRS investments, although the availability of an individual semiconductor ETF should be confirmed on the platform.

SRS contributions may qualify for tax relief, subject to the overall personal income tax relief cap of S$80,000. Contributions must be completed by 31 December, or by an earlier deadline imposed by the SRS operator, to qualify for relief in the following Year of Assessment.

SRS is generally better suited to long-term retirement investing than short-term sector trading. A semiconductor allocation should therefore be considered within the context of the wider SRS portfolio rather than treated as a standalone retirement strategy.

How to choose a semiconductor ETF

The best semiconductor ETF depends on the exposure you want, how concentrated you are comfortable being and how the fund fits with your existing portfolio.

1. Decide whether you want broad semiconductor, fabless, memory, equipment or full supply-chain exposure.
2. Compare the underlying index and weighting methodology.
3. Check the largest holding and top-10 concentration.
4. Review geographic coverage and access to Asian chipmakers.
5. Choose between a US-domiciled or UCITS structure.
6. Compare TER, spreads, brokerage, FX and platform fees.
7. Check for overlap with existing global, Nasdaq-100, AI and technology holdings.

How semiconductor ETFs can fit into your portfolio

Semiconductor ETFs can serve as a satellite allocation alongside a diversified global portfolio, providing greater exposure to chip design, manufacturing, memory and semiconductor equipment.

The right fund depends on what you already own. SMH, SOXX and SOXQ increase exposure to established industry leaders, while XSD reduces mega-cap dependence. Global UCITS funds add more direct exposure to Asian foundries, memory producers and equipment companies, while specialised funds such as DRAM provide a narrower cyclical allocation.

A semiconductor ETF does not fill a diversification gap for investors who already hold global, S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 or AI ETFs. It creates a deliberate sector overweight. The final decision should therefore be based on index construction, concentration, holdings overlap, domicile and total cost rather than recent performance.