At a glance
74% of SMH’s and SOXX’s holdings overlap by weight, with 23 securities in common out of 25 and 30. SOXX costs less: 0.33% a year against 0.35% for SMH, or $330 against $350 on every $100,000. SMH has $77.20B in assets and SOXX $47.82B; over the past 12 months SMH paid out 0.22% of its price and SOXX 0.09%. Over the past year SMH returned +40.5% and SOXX +48.5% with distributions reinvested; over five years, +30.2% and +23.7% a year. In the 2022 bear market SMH fell 44.4% at its worst and SOXX 44.7%; SMH was back at its earlier high 9 months after the low, SOXX 14 months.
Key differences
| SMH | SOXX | |
|---|---|---|
| Fund | VanEck Semiconductor ETF | iShares Semiconductor ETF |
| Issuer | VanEck | iShares |
| Structure | Open-end ETF | Open-end ETF |
| Type | Semiconductors | Semiconductors |
| Launched | May 5, 2000 | Jul 10, 2001 |
| Expense ratio | 0.35% | 0.33% |
| Cost a year on $100,000 | $350 | $330 |
| Net assets | $77.20B | $47.82B |
| Holdings | 25 | 30 |
| Ten largest positions | 70.2% | 61.6% |
| Yield (12 months) | 0.22% | 0.09% |
| Pays | annual | quarterly |
| Portfolio turnover | 12% a year | 33% a year |
| Price data from | May 5, 2000 | Jun 6, 2005 |
Holdings and overlap
Overlap adds up, for every security both funds own, the smaller of its two weights: 100% would mean identical portfolios.
Largest holdings
| Holding | SMH | SOXX |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA Corp | 17.55% | 6.81% |
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd | 9.29% | 4.26% |
| Micron Technology Inc | 5.67% | 8.54% |
| Advanced Micro Devices Inc | 5.63% | 8.09% |
| Intel Corp | 5.15% | 6.33% |
| Broadcom Inc | 5.28% | 6.08% |
| Applied Materials Inc | 5.74% | 5.77% |
| KLA Corp | 5.57% | 5.64% |
| Lam Research Corp | 5.31% | 4.89% |
| Marvell Technology, Inc. | 4.66% | 5.22% |
| ASML Holding NV | 5.04% | 2.30% |
The biggest differences in weight: NVIDIA Corp (17.5% in SMH, 6.8% in SOXX); Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (9.3% in SMH, 4.3% in SOXX); Micron Technology Inc (5.7% in SMH, 8.5% in SOXX).
Source: N-PORT holdings reports as of Jun 30, 2026 for both funds.Returns
$10,000 put into SMH on Jun 30, 2005 was worth $450,274 on Nov 2, 2026, and in SOXX $315,084 (+19.5% and +17.5% a year). That is as far back as the price data for both goes.
| 1 yr | 3 yr | 5 yr | 10 yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMH price data to Nov 2, 2026 | +40.5% | +52.2% | +30.2% | +32.4% |
| SMH official prospectus, to Dec 31, 2025 | +49.15% | — | +27.73% | +30.93% |
| SOXX price data to Nov 2, 2026 | +48.5% | +44.1% | +23.7% | +29.9% |
| SOXX official prospectus, to Dec 31, 2025 | +40.71% | — | +19.94% | +27.28% |
Calendar years
| Year | SMH | SOXX | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | +41.1% * | +50.9% * | SOXX +9.8 |
| 2025 | +49.2% | +40.7% | SMH +8.4 |
| 2024 | +39.1% | +12.9% | SMH +26.2 |
| 2023 | +73.4% | +67.1% | SMH +6.2 |
| 2022 | -33.5% | -35.1% | SMH +1.6 |
| 2021 | +42.1% | +44.1% | SOXX +2.0 |
| 2020 | +55.5% | +52.7% | SMH +2.8 |
| 2019 | +64.4% | +62.4% | SMH +2.0 |
| 2018 | -9.0% | -6.5% | SOXX +2.6 |
| 2017 | +38.5% | +39.8% | SOXX +1.3 |
Downturns and recovery
| SMH | SOXX | |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 financial crisis stocks fell Oct 9, 2007 – Mar 9, 2009 | −59.4% at the worst; back at its high 26 months after the low | −65.7% at the worst; back at its high 55 months after the low |
| 2020 COVID crash stocks fell Feb 19, 2020 – Mar 23, 2020 | −33.6% at the worst; back at its high 3 months after the low | −34.3% at the worst; back at its high 3 months after the low |
| 2022 bear market stocks fell Jan 3, 2022 – Oct 12, 2022 | −44.4% at the worst; back at its high 9 months after the low | −44.7% at the worst; back at its high 14 months after the low |
| Worst fall in the price data | −84.1% (Jun 21, 2000 – Nov 20, 2008) | −66.8% (Jul 17, 2007 – Nov 20, 2008) |
Income
| Year | SMH | SOXX |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $45 | $80 |
| 2024 | $61 | $75 |
| 2023 | $102 | $130 |
| 2022 | $78 | $81 |
| 2021 | $72 | $91 |
| 2020 | $106 | $123 |
| 2019 | $243 | $198 |
| 2018 | $168 | $127 |
Costs
SOXX charges 0.33% a year and SMH 0.35%: on $100,000 that is $20 a year less with SOXX ($100 on $500,000). The fee comes out of each fund's assets, so it is already in the returns above.
| Cost of $10,000 (SEC example) | 1 yr | 3 yrs | 5 yrs | 10 yrs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMH | $36 | $113 | $197 | $443 |
| SOXX | $34 | $106 | $185 | $418 |