xETFs has launched the Korea AI Semiconductor ETF (KSMH), an actively managed fund designed to give investors targeted exposure to South Korea’s semiconductor industry and companies across its broader AI chip ecosystem.
The New York-based ETF issuer said KSMH will invest in between 10 and 25 Korean companies, spanning memory, semiconductor materials and equipment, manufacturing and packaging, substrates and printed circuit boards, and testing.
The fund’s launch comes as rising AI workloads drive demand for high-performance memory and other semiconductor components. South Korea is home to two of the world’s largest memory manufacturers, SK hynix (KRX: 000660) and Samsung Electronics (KRX: 005930), which are expected to account for about 40% of KSMH’s portfolio initially.
Johnny Wu, co-founder and CEO of xETFs, said Korea’s role in advanced memory production had created an investment opportunity that was difficult for individual U.S. investors to access directly.
Wu said investors had previously faced limited options, including broad Korean equity funds that could restrict exposure to major chipmakers, semiconductor ETFs with significant U.S. and Taiwanese holdings, or direct purchases of Korean-listed companies, many of which lack U.S. listings.
KSMH is intended to provide access through a single U.S.-listed ETF while extending beyond the country’s largest memory producers. The portfolio will include companies positioned across several stages of the semiconductor supply chain, giving investors exposure to suppliers and manufacturers that could benefit from higher AI-related chip demand.
The fund is also built around the view that AI is supporting a new memory demand cycle. AI systems require substantial amounts of high-bandwidth and other advanced memory to support increasingly complex workloads, strengthening the strategic importance of memory suppliers and their supporting ecosystems.
“KSMH is designed to capture the opportunities found up and down the full Korean semiconductor value chain,” Wu said.
The launch adds another investment product focused on the semiconductor industry at a time when AI infrastructure spending is reshaping demand across processors, memory, packaging and related manufacturing equipment.
