VanEck Semiconductor ETF Trades 25% Below June Record After Nov. 5 Plunge
The VanEck Semiconductor ETF has slid about 25% from its June record after an 11% one-day drop on November 5. It is still up around 39% in 2026, and its holdings now trade near the S&P 500's earnings multiple, while Nvidia's CEO exit adds risk.
The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) traded near $502 as of November 15, 2026, about 25% below its record close of $668.91 set on June 22. The semiconductor ETF is still up around 39% this year, after ending 2025 at $360.13.
The November 5 plunge
A large part of the slide came on November 5, when the fund fell 11% in a single session. That was its worst day since March 2020.
Investors dumped chip shares after the midterm elections stirred worries that spending on artificial intelligence data centers might slow. Qualcomm, one of the fund's holdings, added to the pressure with a disappointing outlook for its current quarter.
Valuation has reset
According to VanEck, the fund's stocks traded at around 28 times earnings as of October 31. The figure was about 49 times on June 30 and about 43 times at the end of January.
The fund's price fell roughly 20% between the June and October readings. That suggests most of the drop in the multiple came from companies earning more, not only from falling share prices.
The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF put its holdings at around 28 times earnings as of November 11. The chip fund's 25 stocks therefore carry about the same multiple as 500 of the largest U.S. companies.
Sales still climbing
The Semiconductor Industry Association said global chip sales hit $517.7 billion in the July-through-September quarter, up 24.1% from the second quarter. Second-quarter sales had jumped 35.1% over the first quarter, and first-quarter sales rose about 25% from the fourth quarter of 2025.
Growth cooled in the third quarter, but sales still rose more than 20% quarter to quarter for a third straight quarter. September sales were up around 147% from a year earlier, the trade group said. Its monthly figures are a three-month moving average.
A boom this fast is unlikely to last forever. If chip prices fall once supply catches up, earnings could shrink and the fund could look expensive again even at a lower price.
Concentration and a CEO exit
The fund owns 25 stocks but does not weight them equally. As of November 11, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) made up around 18% of assets and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) about 10%. Together they account for more than a quarter of the fund, and the 10 largest holdings make up around 69%.
On Thursday, November 12, Nvidia said co-founder Jensen Huang had stepped down as CEO and left the board, effective immediately. Chief financial officer Colette Kress is interim CEO. The fund's largest holding now has no permanent chief executive ahead of its November 17 release of fiscal third-quarter results.
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