ARTY vs QTUM

ARTYAiShares Future AI & Tech ETF

QTUMADefiance Quantum ETF

In short

ARTY Launched in 2018 as a robotics fund, ARTY switched benchmarks in 2024 and came back as a focused global AI portfolio: about 50 companies across chips, data centers, software and services, at a below-median theme fee.

QTUM Live since 2018, QTUM turns the quantum-computing story into a plain index fund: about 90 global names spanning quantum hardware and machine learning, for 0.40% a year.

Stated mandate

ARTY The fund seeks to track a global index of companies contributing to artificial-intelligence technologies across software, infrastructure, and services.

QTUM The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the BlueStar® Quantum Computing and Machine Learning Index. It uses a passive indexing approach.

Why people hold it

• ARTY 0.47% a year against a 0.68% median for AI-theme funds. The thematic markup is smaller here than on most of the shelf, though XAIX and QTUM undercut it.
• Global by design. The index pulls from US and non-US companies contributing to AI across generative AI, data and infrastructure, software and services.ishares.com
• A multi-billion-dollar, actively traded iShares fund, so getting in and out doesn't hinge on thin volume.
• Stacks up as one of the stronger builds in a crowded AI cohort on cost, structure and staying power.

• QTUM 0.40% a year against a 0.68% median for its AI-theme cohort, and it undercuts peers like WTAI (0.45%) and ALAI (0.55%).
• Rules-based by design: it tracks the BlueStar Quantum Computing and Machine Learning Index, so no manager is hand-picking which quantum story wins.
• About 90 holdings across global markets, so the theme rides on a basket instead of two or three pure plays.
• Size and liquidity back it up: a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, and one of the stronger implementations in its thematic peer group.

Worth knowing

• ARTY The record before August 2024 belongs to a different strategy: as IRBO it tracked a robotics and AI index, then moved to the Morningstar Global AI Select Index.ishares.com
• About 50 names in one theme. The AI trade sets the tone here, and that concentration works in both directions.
• Distributions land once or twice a year and are incidental. This is a growth-theme equity fund, not an income holding.

• QTUM Risk is the softest part of the profile. One narrow, early-stage theme in a single asset class means sharper swings than a broad-market fund.
• The index covers machine learning as well as quantum, so part of the basket is familiar AI exposure rather than quantum specialists.
• Distributions come quarterly, but a growth theme like this is not built around income.

Full ARTY profile⁠

Full QTUM profile⁠