Driven by demand from cloud computing and AI, semiconductor sales have skyrocketed in recent months as pressure due to supply chain concerns and inflation has eased. The specialized chips that power these popular technologies are in such high demand that makers of these products now represent three of the 10 largest companies in the world by market capitalization—NVIDIA Corp., Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., and Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO), each of which has a market cap of at least $833 billion.
Notably, the semiconductor market appears to be still heating up. Global semiconductor sales for August 2024 reached more than $53 billion, a 20.6% increase year-over-year and the fifth consecutive month-to-month improvement. Demand was particularly strong in the U.S. and Asia. China's assertive stimulus policy has prompted a surge in domestic chipmaker stocks in recent weeks, which is not reflected in August's global sales figures.
Bets on individual semiconductor makers have been a popular choice for many investors, with NVDA shares nearly tripling in the last year and both TSM and AVGO stocks more than doubling during that time. Some investors may prefer a broader approach, though, to capitalize on the ongoing surge in the U.S. or the global semiconductor spaces. In these cases, there are a number of ETFs providing different types of exposure to this market.
SMH: Top-Performing Non-Leveraged Chip ETF
The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:
