Designed to provide broad exposure to the Technology - Semiconductors segment of the equity market, the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on July 10, 2001.
Passively managed ETFs are becoming increasingly popular with institutional as well as retail investors due to their low cost, transparency, flexibility and tax efficiency. They are excellent vehicles for long term investors.
Sector ETFs are also funds of convenience, offering many ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Technology - Semiconductors is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 1, placing it in top 6%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $15.26 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Technology - Semiconductors segment of the equity market. SOXX seeks to match the performance of the PHLX SOX Semiconductor Sector Index before fees and expenses.
The ICE Semiconductor Index measures the performance of U.S. traded securities of companies engaged in the semiconductor business.
Costs
Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.34%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.57%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
ETFs offer a diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector -- about 100% of the portfolio.
Looking at individual holdings, Broadcom Inc (AVGO) accounts for about 9.36% of total assets, followed by Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) and Nvidia Corp (NVDA).
The top 10 holdings account for about 59.43% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF return is roughly 34.32% so far this year and is up about 26.47% in the last one year (as of 10/20/2025). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $154.86 and $291.54.
The ETF has a beta of 1.51 and standard deviation of 34.79% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 35 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.
Alternatives
iShares Semiconductor ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, SOXX is an outstanding option for investors seeking exposure to the Technology ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.
SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) tracks S&P Semiconductor Select Industry Index and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) tracks MVIS US Listed Semiconductor 25 Index. SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF has $1.74 billion in assets, VanEck Semiconductor ETF has $33.54 billion. XSD has an expense ratio of 0.35%, and SMH charges 0.35%.
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
Zacks Investment Research
