REX's CHIP tracks chipmaking tools, not AI chips
REX ETF Trust on Monday, September 14, 2026, put a Rule 485(b) post-effective amendment in force for the REX AI Chipmaking ETF CHIP, a Nasdaq series with a 0.65% expense ratio.
The prospectus for the REX AI Chipmaking ETF CHIP says the companies it would hold “may not design, manufacture or sell AI chips directly.” Post-Effective Amendment No. 125 was filed Monday and is effective the same day under Rule 485(b), replacing the version marked “subject to completion” on June 30. The fund is cleared to offer shares at 0.65% and would list on The Nasdaq Stock Market. It has not traded.
It would track the VettaFi AI Chipmaking Index: 55 companies, as of Monday, that the index provider sorts into wafer-fabrication equipment, advanced packaging, and metrology, the measurement tools used to inspect wafers and chips. Those sleeves are why the name and the portfolio sit at that distance.
What CHIP would hold
The index is float-modified market-cap weighted inside each sleeve, with 50% of weight at each rebalance in wafer-fabrication equipment, 25% in advanced packaging, and 25% in metrology. Each name is capped at 5% and floored at 0.3% at rebalance. Eligibility, as of the prospectus date, includes a $1 billion minimum market capitalization ($800 million for names already in the index), 20% free float, and $1 million of three-month average daily traded value on exchanges the index provider classifies as developed. Specialty-chemicals companies are screened out. The index reconstitutes quarterly.
Under normal conditions the fund will invest at least 80% of net assets, plus borrowings for investment, in the index’s constituents, generally in proportion to their weights. It may hold ordinary shares on non-U.S. exchanges and depositary receipts. The prospectus states the fund has no performance history and that financial highlights are not available.
Same issuer, same index house, same fee
REX Advisers, LLC is named as adviser on an amended management schedule dated Monday, with the contract effective September 14, 2026, through September 14, 2028. The 0.65% charge is unitary: zeros for 12b-1 fees and other expenses, and no waiver.
That is the same management fee as the REX Drone ETF DRNZ, REX’s only listed VettaFi-index fund, which holds $116 million. Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, said REX “has successfully partnered with VettaFi as an index provider in the past.” CHIP is the next product on that line.
The fee sits above the 0.35% on the VanEck Semiconductor ETF SMH, which holds $69.87 billion, and above the 0.50% on Global X’s AI Semiconductor & Quantum ETF CHPX.
The amendment relates only to this series and does not set a first-trade date. A fund named AI Chipmaking is, on the paper that now governs it, a portfolio of equipment, packaging, and measurement names, and the prospectus has already said they might not be chips.
Frequently asked
Does CHIP hold AI chip designers?
Not necessarily: the prospectus says the companies it would hold may not design, manufacture or sell AI chips directly.
What is actually in the index?
Companies sorted into wafer-fabrication equipment, advanced packaging, and metrology, with half the weight in equipment and a quarter each in the other two at rebalance.
What does it cost?
A unitary 0.65%, with no 12b-1 fee, no other expenses and no waiver.
When does it start trading?
The amendment does not set a first-trade date, and the fund has not traded.