Should You Invest in the iShares U.S. Technology ETF (IYW)?

Designed to provide broad exposure to the Technology - Broad segment of the equity market, the iShares U.S. Technology ETF (IYW) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on May 15, 2000.

While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.

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 - Broad 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 $20.71 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Technology - Broad segment of the equity market. IYW seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Technology Index before fees and expenses.

The Russell 1000 Technology RIC 22.5/45 Capped Index includes companies in the following sectors: software and computer services and technology hardware and equipment. The Index is capitalization-weighted and includes only companies in the technology industry of the Dow Jones U.S. Total Market Index.

Costs

Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts, other things remaining the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.38%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.15%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector -- about 89.3% of the portfolio. Telecom and Industrials round out the top three.

The top 10 holdings account for about 63.81% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the iShares U.S. Technology ETF return is roughly 23.43% so far, and it's up approximately 19.88% over the last 12 months (as of 12/16/2025). IYW has traded between $122.57 and $211.27 in this past 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1.26 and standard deviation of 23.24% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 147 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

iShares U.S. Technology ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, IYW is an excellent 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.

State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) tracks Technology Select Sector Index and the Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Information Technology 25/50 Index. State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF has $92.21 billion in assets, Vanguard Information Technology ETF has $111.07 billion. XLK has an expense ratio of 0.08%, and VGT charges 0.09%.

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.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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