Here's Why the VanEck Semiconductor ETF Soared in May And Is a Great Way to Play AI Spending
2026-06-03 09:52:26 ET
The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ: SMH) surged 18.2% in May according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence . It's a remarkable move for an ETF, given that ETFs' usual role is to trade off outperformance for the security of being tied to sectorwide movement. However, in this case it was sectorwide movement that produced the exceptional results.
No prizes for guessing it comes down to accelerating momentum in artificial intelligence ( AI ) spending, with a host of companies either confirming that spending conditions remain robust or committing more capital to AI. However, a star prize is awarded for noting a subtle shift in which stocks are favored right now: broadly speaking, it's a shift from graphics processing units (GPUs) toward more traditional central processing units (CPUs).
All four companies below are among the 25 holdings in the Van Eck ETF. It's worth noting that the predominantly CPU companies, Intel and Qualcomm , notably outperformed the GPU leader, Nvidia . Meanwhile, Advanced Micro Devices offers both GPUs and CPUs.
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