SMHX vs SOXQ

SMHXBVanEck Fabless Semiconductor ETF

SOXQAInvesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF

In short

SMHX Owns the chip designers and skips the factories. SMHX tracks an index of US-listed fabless semiconductor companies: firms that design silicon in-house and hand the actual manufacturing to outside foundries.

SOXQ SOXQ owns the semiconductor industry's landmark benchmark, the PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index, for 0.19% a year. About 30 US-listed chip names, at roughly half the fee of the typical semiconductor fund.

Stated mandate

SMHX The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the MarketVector US Listed Fabless Semiconductor Index, which is intended to represent companies involved in the semiconductor industry.

SOXQ The Fund seeks to track the investment results, before fees and expenses, of the PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index.

Why people hold it

• SMHX Purist screen: the index takes only US-listed fabless firms drawing at least half their revenue from semiconductors. No foundries, no equipment makers, no integrated manufacturers.vaneck.com
• Fabless is an asset-light model by construction: design and R&D stay in-house while fabrication is outsourced, sidestepping the cost of owning a chip plant.vaneck.com
• Charges 0.35% a year, level with the median semiconductor ETF, for a far narrower cut of the industry than the broad chip trackers.

• SOXQ Charges 0.19% a year against a semiconductor-fund median near 0.35%. Same industry, less friction.
• Undercuts the category's best-known tickers on fee: SMH at 0.35% and SOXX at 0.33%.
• Tracks the PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index, a focused basket of roughly 30 US chip companies. No stock-picking, no theme drift.
• A multi-billion-dollar, actively traded fund, and one of the stronger builds in the semiconductor cohort.

Worth knowing

• SMHX By design it skips foundries, equipment makers and integrated manufacturers. Broad chip funds such as SMH and SOXX still cover those links in the supply chain.
• Cheaper doors into chips exist: SOXQ lists 0.19% and CHPS 0.15%, against 0.35% here.
• Launched in 2024 and still a smaller, moderately traded fund, so the track record is short and spreads can run wider than at the category heavyweights.

• SOXQ About 30 stocks in one industry. That concentration puts it among the more volatile funds in its peer group, in both directions.
• Not the absolute cheapest chip ETF: CHPS runs 0.15%, though it tracks a different index.
• Launched in 2021, so its record is shorter than the decade-plus histories of the category's older funds.

Full SMHX profile⁠

Full SOXQ profile⁠