This year, industry-specific exchange-traded funds have seen significant growth in assets under management, with semiconductor-themed ETFs emerging as the primary target for capital inflows.
According to Wind data, as of July 2nd, semiconductor-themed ETFs have achieved increases in both size and net asset value this year, with total assets growing by nearly 75 billion yuan. The net asset value growth rate for 30 such products has exceeded 110%.
Specifically, ETFs tracking the Semiconductor Materials and Equipment Index have reached a total size of 88.162 billion yuan, increasing by nearly 75 billion yuan this year. Of this increase, 36.485 billion yuan came from net investor subscriptions, while 38.227 billion yuan resulted from NAV appreciation.
ETFs linked to the STAR Market Semiconductor Materials and Equipment Index have also performed strongly, with total assets reaching 35.613 billion yuan, an increase of 30.752 billion yuan year-to-date. Net subscriptions contributed 17.286 billion yuan to this growth, while NAV appreciation contributed 13.467 billion yuan.
Overall, the asset growth for multiple semiconductor-themed ETFs across the market this year has been primarily driven by net investor subscriptions.
From the perspective of fund managers, leading fund companies hold a significant overall advantage in ETF scale, indicating a high market concentration.
Guotai Asset Management, HFT Investment Management, Yongying Fund, Tianhong Asset Management, and Bosera Asset Management have each seen their ETF assets grow by over 10 billion yuan this year.
Among them, Guotai Asset Management leads with an increase of 87.132 billion yuan, followed by HFT Investment Management with growth of 41.682 billion yuan.
On a single-product basis, the Guotai CES Semiconductor Materials and Equipment Theme ETF grew by 35.153 billion yuan, the Harvest SSE STAR Market Chip ETF increased by 24.621 billion yuan, and the ChinaAMC SSE STAR Market Semiconductor Materials and Equipment Theme ETF grew by 20.555 billion yuan.
Regarding the sustained strength of the semiconductor sector, institutional sources note that the A-share market has shown significant divergence between sectors this year, characterized by the outperformance of "hard tech" segments.
Sectors such as communications, electronics, and semiconductors have significantly outpaced software and application-related sectors.
This structural market trend is attributed to three major industrial shifts: first, demand growth driven by the paradigm shift in AI; second, a wave of "price increases" triggered by supply-demand gaps, where constrained supply coupled with surging demand has led to widespread and substantial price hikes for upstream materials like memory and optical fiber cables; third, robust domestic AI investment demand and observed technological breakthroughs on the supply side.
Beyond the semiconductor sector, the innovative drug segment has also attracted capital inflows this year.
Data shows that ETFs tracking the Innovative Drug Index have a total size of 32.283 billion yuan, having increased by 10.889 billion yuan this year. ETFs linked to the STAR Market Innovative Drug Index have a total size of 3.782 billion yuan, with a year-to-date increase of 2.647 billion yuan.
A relevant business head at Guotai Asset Management stated that there is a significant valuation gap between domestic innovative drug companies and the international market, creating a demand for capital to flow back and take long positions.
As the interim earnings season for A-share companies approaches, the sector is expected to continue its upward trajectory amid solid earnings guidance.
Industry insiders believe that, driven by both the AI industry trend and the logic of domestic substitution, the high prosperity of the semiconductor industry chain is likely to continue, and related thematic ETFs may sustain their appeal to investors.
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