SOXX vs SMH: $10,000 Became $355,913 or $424,431

SMH (the VanEck Semiconductor ETF) has returned more than SOXX (the iShares Semiconductor ETF) since 2011, at 28.71% a year against 27.19%. A $10,000 stake became $424,431 in SMH. In SOXX it became $355,913. Both figures count dividends and ignore costs and tax.

The two funds hold mostly the same companies in different proportions. Both fell about 45% from their 2021 highs. Nvidia is 20.57% of SMH and 8.11% of SOXX.

An exchange-traded fund, or ETF, is a fund whose shares trade on a stock exchange. Our guide to what an ETF is covers the basics.

A semiconductor is a chip. Both funds hold companies that design chips, make them or sell the equipment that makes them. Our guide to the semiconductor value chain maps those roles.

BlackRock's iShares runs SOXX, which began trading on 10 July 2001. VanEck runs SMH and lists its inception as 20 December 2011. Every comparison below starts on that date.

Each fund follows an index. An index is a published list of shares with rules for how much of each to hold. SOXX follows the NYSE Semiconductor Index. iShares describes it as the 30 largest US-listed semiconductor companies that meet minimum size and trading requirements.

SMH follows the MVIS US Listed Semiconductor 25 Index. VanEck's filing says the index starts from the 50 largest chip stocks by market value. It keeps the top 25 ranked by tradable market value and trading volume. A company must earn at least 50% of its revenue from semiconductors.

The iShares summary prospectus shows SOXX followed a different index until 20 June 2021, the PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index. The SOXX price history therefore covers two indexes.

A weight is the share of a fund's value held in one company. Chart 1 shows the weights of seven large holdings. They are the five largest in each fund. The SOXX weights are from 23 October 2026 and the SMH weights from 26 October 2026, each from the issuer's holdings file.

Nvidia's weight in SMH is 2.54 times its weight in SOXX. TSMC, the Taiwanese chip maker covered in our guide to what TSMC does, is 9.66% against 3.27%. SOXX's largest holding is AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) at 9.32%, then Intel at 8.25%.

The ten largest holdings make up 62.51% of SOXX and 68.86% of SMH. SMH is the more concentrated of the two.

SOXX holds 30 companies and SMH holds 25. Twenty-three appear in both. To measure the overlap, we took the smaller of each shared company's two weights and added them up. The total is 69.77%.

SOXX alone holds seven companies, each under 1.5%. SMH alone holds two, Cadence and Synopsys, at about 2.1% each.

iShares charges 0.33% a year on SOXX. VanEck charges 0.35% a year on SMH. On $10,000, that is $33 and $35 a year.

On 26 October 2026, iShares reported net assets of $46.37 billion for SOXX. VanEck reported $67.72 billion for SMH. Net assets are the total value of what a fund holds, after its debts.

iShares has approved a three-for-one split of SOXX shares, with trading at the new share price from 5 November 2026. All the returns in this post allow for splits.

Chart 2 shows what $10,000 became in each fund and in SPY (the S&P 500 ETF), from the close on 20 December 2011 to the close on 26 October 2026. That is 3,733 trading days over 14.85 years. SPY follows the S&P 500, an index of 500 large US companies.

SMH ended at $424,431, or 28.71% a year. SOXX ended at $355,913, or 27.19% a year. SPY ended at $79,757, or 15.01% a year.

Volatility is how widely a price swings from day to day, scaled to a year. It was 29.86% for SMH, 31.09% for SOXX and 16.51% for SPY.

Chart 3 gives each fund's return in every calendar year, from 1 January to 31 December. 2012 to 2025 are full years, while 2026 runs only to 26 October.

SMH beat SOXX in nine of the 14 full years.

SOXX led in five: 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2021. Across all 14 full years, the mean gap between the two funds was 4.86 percentage points, whichever fund led. The widest was 2024, with 39.08% for SMH and 12.92% for SOXX. SOXX leads in 2026 so far, with 63.60% against 50.40%.

The table gives six sell-offs. Each window runs from the highest close of SPY to its lowest close inside a stated search range. All three funds are measured over those dates. Our study of how ETFs perform in a crisis compares more funds.

Change in each fund from the close on the first date to the close on the second, with dividends counted. Each window runs from the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) highest close to its lowest close inside a search range: 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2009; 1 January to 30 April 2020; 1 December 2021 to 31 December 2022; 1 February to 31 March 2022; 1 June to 31 August 2024; 1 February to 31 May 2025. SMH has no figure for 2007 to 2009 because the VanEck fund began on 20 December 2011. Source: YX Insights price data

The 2022 rate rises are the Federal Reserve's increases to its main interest rate. Our guide to the 2022 rate rises covers that cycle.

Russia announced the start of a military operation in Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The US signed its reciprocal tariff order on 2 April 2025. The 2008 row has no SMH figure because the fund began in December 2011.

SOXX fell further than SPY in five of the six sell-offs. The exception was February to March 2020, when SOXX fell 31.91% and SPY fell 33.70%.

SMH fell less than SOXX in four of the five sell-offs both funds were alive for. The widest gap was April 2025, with 30.07% for SMH and 32.74% for SOXX. In February to March 2022, SMH fell more, by 0.75 points.

The largest fall in the whole 2011 to 2026 window came in the same stretch. Measured from each fund's own high, SMH fell 45.30% and SOXX fell 45.75%, both from 27 December 2021 to 14 October 2022. That window differs from the table's, which follows SPY's high and low.

SMH closed back at its old high on 13 July 2023, 1.54 years later. SOXX did so on 13 December 2023, 1.96 years later.

SOXX has a longer record. Since 2001, its worst fall from a high was 70.21%, from 2 August 2001 to 20 November 2008. It closed back at that high on 22 January 2014, 12.47 years later.

We moved the start to the first trading day on or after the 20th of every month, from December 2011 to October 2024. That gives 155 start dates. SMH finished ahead of SOXX from 154 of them. SOXX finished ahead only from the 21 October 2024 start.

The returns are past prices with dividends counted, before costs and tax. The holdings are two snapshots, three days apart. Both funds sit in a single industry.

SMH did better over this period. It finished ahead of SOXX from 154 of 155 start dates, while SOXX charges 0.02 points less. Their holdings overlap by 69.77%. In 2022 they fell by almost the same amount.

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Good places to start on the website:

Neither is better on every measure. A $10,000 stake from 20 December 2011 became $424,431 in SMH against $355,913 in SOXX. SMH finished ahead from 154 of 155 start dates. SOXX charges 0.33% a year against 0.35% and leads in 2026 so far. These are past results.

Mostly, but at different sizes. They share 23 chip companies. SOXX follows the NYSE Semiconductor Index and holds 30 companies, led by AMD at 9.32%. SMH follows the MVIS US Listed Semiconductor 25 Index and holds 25, led by Nvidia at 20.57%. Their holdings overlap by 69.77%.

SOXX has the lower fee. iShares charges 0.33% a year on SOXX and VanEck charges 0.35% a year on SMH. On $10,000, that is $33 against $35 a year. The 0.02 point fee gap is small next to the yearly return gap, which averaged 4.86 percentage points across 14 full years.

Yes. Nvidia is 20.57% of SMH on 26 October 2026 and 8.11% of SOXX on 23 October 2026. SMH also holds more TSMC, at 9.66% against 3.27%. SOXX holds more AMD and Intel. Our guide to the semiconductor value chain explains what each company does.

No, they usually fall further. From the S&P 500's January 2022 high to its October 2022 low, SOXX fell 44.74% and SMH fell 44.39%, against 24.50% for SPY, the S&P 500 ETF. The one exception in our six sell-offs was February to March 2020, when SOXX fell 31.91% and SPY fell 33.70%. See our guide to what a drawdown is.

DISCLAIMER: This article is strictly educational. Any information or analysis in this note is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Nothing in this note is intended to be investment advice and nor should it be relied upon to make investment decisions. Any opinions, analyses, or probabilities expressed in this note are those of the author as of the note's date of publication and are subject to change without notice.