Launched on July 10, 2001, the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Technology - Semiconductors segment of the equity market.
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 also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Technology - Semiconductors is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 6, placing it in top 38%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $22.61 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 0.48%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. 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 100% of the portfolio.
Looking at individual holdings, Micron Technology Inc (MU) accounts for about 8.32% of total assets, followed by Nvidia Corp (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD).
The top 10 holdings account for about 56.31% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has gained about 19.35% and was up about 56.3% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 02/23/2026), respectively. SOXX has traded between $154.86 and $361.13 during this last 52-week period.
The ETF has a beta of 1.53 and standard deviation of 33.96% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 34 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.
Alternatives
iShares Semiconductor 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, SOXX 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 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. State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF has $1.77 billion in assets, VanEck Semiconductor ETF has $46.57 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.
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iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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