Chipmaker ETF rides AI excitement to quickest $10bn valuation on record

{"text":[[{"start":9.4,"text":"An exchange traded fund investing in a narrow group of AI chipmakers has surged through $10bn in assets just 50 calendar days after its launch, in a further sign of investor excitement over the rapid build-out of huge data centres by tech hyperscalers."}],[{"start":25.15,"text":"The Roundhill Memory ETF, which has the stock market ticker DRAM, hit the figure on Friday after surging 87 per cent since launch on April 2 and after $8.6bn of inflows, in the quickest rise to a $10bn valuation for any ETF on record, according to data from Morningstar."}],[{"start":45.55,"text":"DRAM hit the milestone in less than one-tenth of the time taken by the iShares AI Innovation and Tech Active ETF, known as BAI, which reached $10bn in assets last month, 556 days after its launch — at the time, the quickest rise to that value for any thematic ETF."}],[{"start":64.8,"text":"“DRAM is a textbook case of an ETF issuer catching lightning in a bottle, pairing a perfect ticker symbol with impeccable timing and an investment thesis tailor-made for the current market,” said Nate Geraci, president of NovaDius Wealth Management."}],[{"start":79.7,"text":"“Given the current feeding frenzy around AI infrastructure plays, I’d expect a wave of copycat ETF launches looking to replicate Roundhill’s success,” he added."}],[{"start":90.2,"text":"The surge in the two ETFs comes as investors prepare for blockbuster listings from SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI, with a potential combined valuation of $4tn."}],[{"start":103.4,"text":"“Investors are leaning in to AI and both ETFs provide targeted exposure to that theme,” said Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at TMX VettaFi, a consultancy."}],[{"start":114.55000000000001,"text":"While BAI provides broad exposure to a wide range of largely US chipmakers such as Broadcom, Nvidia and AMD, DRAM has 73 per cent of its assets in just three companies: South Korea’s SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, and US firm Micron Technology, whose shares surged as much as 19 per cent on Tuesday, taking its market value above $1tn."}],[{"start":137.70000000000002,"text":"“I would just caution folks. Three stocks make up most of the fund and they are all related. It’s not like they are different parts of the AI supply chain,” Rosenbluth said."}],[{"start":147.60000000000002,"text":"AI and big data ETFs and mutual funds have more than doubled in size to $70.8bn since the start of 2025, Morningstar data shows, largely powered by inflows rather than market gains."}],[{"start":161.35000000000002,"text":"Investors hope to benefit from surging demand, with the Goldman Sachs Global Institute estimating that around $7.6tn will be spent on building out AI data centres in the next five years, the bulk of it on computing power provided by the semiconductors needed to train and run AI models."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":178.55,"text":"Before DRAM, the fastest ETF to reach $10bn was the 81 days taken by the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund in March 2024, after US regulators allowed crypto ETFs to launch after years of delays and pent-up demand led to a torrent of buying."}],[{"start":197.3,"text":"Morningstar research in 2023 showed that investments in thematic ETFs tend to underperform the theme itself due to a tendency among their investors to buy high and sell low."}],[{"start":207.8,"text":"Daniel Sotiroff, associate director for ETF passive strategies research, North America at Morningstar, said the AI buying spree “harks back to what we saw in the Covid era when a bunch of people were piling into thematic ETFs”. Popular ETFs at the time included those investing in renewable energy and cannabis."}],[{"start":227.75,"text":"While some early investors at that time “probably did OK, a lot of them came in at the peak of the assets — it ended up not working out very well”, added Sotiroff, who also raised concerns about the current valuations of microchip ETFs."}],[{"start":251.85,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1779852885_6441.mp3"}