TCAI vs XDAT

TCAIBTortoise AI Infrastructure ETF

XDATCFranklin Exponential Data ETF

In short

TCAI A stock picker's run at the AI buildout. TCAI is actively managed with no index to follow, aiming at the companies that supply AI infrastructure, and it prices right at the middle of its small niche.

XDAT Franklin's take on the data theme: an active, go-anywhere book of roughly 50 companies that build, move, store, secure and mine large data sets. Live since January 2021, before the AI-ETF land rush, and it charges less than its peers.

Stated mandate

TCAI The Fund invests with an emphasis on companies involved in AI infrastructure. It is actively managed and does not seek to track an index.

XDAT The fund seeks capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities of companies associated with the growth and use of large datasets. Its theme covers data-related hardware, software, cloud computing, analytics, processing, transmission, storage, encryption, and security.

Why people hold it

• TCAI No index, no rulebook. The managers pick the AI infrastructure names themselves, so the portfolio can shift as the buildout does rather than wait for a quarterly reconstitution.
• At 0.65% a year it lands on the median fee for its AI infrastructure cohort, and under the 0.69% charged by Defiance's AIPO, despite being run actively.
• In a crowded new corner (seven funds chasing AI infrastructure), this one grades out in the upper half on our review.
• Liquidity is a bright spot: it changes hands often enough that getting in and out is one of the smoother parts of owning it, unusual for a fund this new.

• XDAT 0.50% a year, under the 0.65% median for its AI and data infrastructure peer group, and below AIVC, TCAI, AIPO and DAT.
• Actively managed rather than index-tracking: the manager can go any sector, any size, US or overseas including emerging markets, as the theme moves.sec.govfranklintempleton.com
• The mandate covers the whole data pipeline, from hardware, cloud and analytics to transmission, storage, encryption and security, not just chips.
• Launched January 2021, well ahead of the AI-theme fund wave, so it has a multi-year live record instead of a backtest.franklintempleton.com

Worth knowing

• TCAI Launched in August 2025, so the track record is thin. There is not yet enough history to judge how it behaves through a full market cycle.
• Active costs more here. Index-run peers in the same niche, Franklin's XDAT at 0.50% and ProShares' DAT at 0.58%, undercut it.
• Distributions come once or twice a year, and the fund is still mid-sized rather than a giant. This is a growth-theme holding, not an income line item.

• XDAT Small fund, thinly traded. Franklin's own literature notes that low volume and wide bid/ask spreads come with size like this, so the spread is part of your cost.franklintempleton.com
• Non-diversified and concentrated in roughly 50 names, so one stock or one corner of the theme can move it more than a broad tech index.sec.gov
• Built for capital appreciation, not income: it has not been paying a regular distribution.

Full TCAI profile⁠

Full XDAT profile⁠