Biden’s CHIPS Act Prompts to Take a More Detailed Look at Semiconductor Stocks and ETFs

Dec 01, 2022
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The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX), an exchange-traded fund holding 30 hot semiconductor stocks. Despite it somewhat underperforms the broader market being down more than 33% YTD as compared to a 30% drop on the Nasdaq Composite, it may offer a good entry point just now, since the most adversities may have been already priced in. In fact, some top institutional analysts believe semiconductor stocks have been unjustifiably beaten down to present a long-term opportunity.

The U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday toured a $300 million semiconductor manufacturing facility in Michigan saying “Instead of relying on chips made overseas in places like China, the supply chain for those chips will be here in America.” Biden tied the project directly to the CHIPS and Science Act, which he signed in August. The bill includes about $52 billion in funding for U.S. companies for the manufacturing of chips, which go into technology like smartphones, electric vehicles, appliances and weapons systems.

Better, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) just bought $4.1 billion worth of Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), which is a notable package. His decision may indicate that the richest investor in the world also believes the sector is bottoming out and that “it’s time to be greedy” since the beaten-down industry holds value as a “forever opportunity.” With patience, these damaged semiconductor stocks to buy will come back strong. After all, semiconductors have become an essence of the continuing technological revolution.

Another prominent Semiconductor-focused exchange-traded fund, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH), with an expense ratio of 0.35% tracks the performance of companies involved with semiconductor production and equipment. It includes the majors in the world of semiconductor stocks, such as Taiwan Semiconductor, Nvidia, Texas Instruments, Broadcom, Applied Materials, Qualcomm Inc., Intel, and dozens more. It also tracks the MVIS U.S. Listed Semiconductor 25 Index and has about $7 billion in net assets.

While the SMH ETF doesn’t appear technically attractive at the moment, it’s also worth a glance. There are still plenty of trends that point to a very rewarding future for semiconductors, including gaming, electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, 5G technology, cloud-based solutions, etc. Plus, with the global semiconductor industry poised to become a trillion-dollar industry by 2030, investing in the latest pullback isn’t a bad move.