Hanwha's PLUS Global HBM Semiconductor ETF sweeps all return periods with 667% three-year gain

Hanwha Asset Management's PLUS Global HBM Semiconductor ETF has topped all overseas equity funds and ETFs across both short- and long-term return periods so far this year.

According to financial data provider FnGuide, the ETF posted a year-to-date return of 134.16% as of Monday, the highest among all overseas equity funds and ETFs. Its one-year return stood at 393.01%, the two-year return at 444.33% and the three-year return at 666.96% — ranking first in each period.

Since its listing in September 2022, the ETF has not merely delivered short-term gains tied to periodic semiconductor rallies but has sustained its lead across longer horizons stretching from one to three years. The performance reflects its ability to capture the structural growth of the global memory chip industry over time, rather than riding only the near-term AI and HBM theme.

The fund concentrates its investments on the growth of the global memory chip industry, with HBM — the core infrastructure of the AI era — at its center. Its portfolio is built around key global memory chipmakers including Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, Micron and SanDisk, and also extends to semiconductor equipment makers and related value-chain companies.

A growing trend among global memory chipmakers toward stronger shareholder returns — through expanded dividends and share buyback and cancellation programs — is a positive for the product. As rule-based shareholder return policies that guarantee minimum dividends or tie payouts to medium- and long-term cumulative earnings become more widespread, cash flow predictability improves, raising the prospect of a share price re-rating.

The AI-driven memory boom is also spreading beyond HBM to server memory and enterprise SSDs, lifting returns across the broader memory sector. Market research firm TrendForce said Tuesday that DRAM and NAND flash are projected to account for 68 percent of capital expenditure by major global cloud service providers by 2027, up from 47 percent this year.

"As AI investment expands, the demand structure for memory broadly — including DRAM and NAND, not just HBM — is undergoing a fundamental shift," said Kim Jeong-seop, head of the ETF business division at Hanwha Asset Management. "The PLUS Global HBM Semiconductor ETF was designed to offer effective exposure to this structural growth in the industry by concentrating investments in the companies leading the global memory market."

Kim added that the fund's sweep of all return-period rankings among overseas equity funds in its fourth year since listing "reflects a portfolio that has stayed aligned with what the market needs, and shows that an investment strategy focused on the structural growth of the global memory industry — rather than short-term share price gains — is delivering results over the long term."