Samsung Asset Management adds SK hynix ADR to KODEX US Semiconductor ETF

Samsung Asset Management said Monday its KODEX US Semiconductor ETF has added SK hynix's American depositary receipt (ADR, ticker: SKHY) following a scheduled rebalancing of the fund's underlying index.

The addition was triggered by the September rebalancing of the MVIS US Listed Semiconductor 25 Index, which the ETF tracks. SK hynix's ADR listed on NASDAQ on July 10, making its inclusion in a major US semiconductor index roughly two months after its debut. The ADR now accounts for about 4.8 percent of the index.

The MVIS US Listed Semiconductor 25 Index is the benchmark tracked by VanEck's SMH (VanEck Semiconductor ETF), the largest semiconductor ETF listed in the United States. VanEck also added the SK hynix ADR to SMH as part of the same rebalancing. SMH has net assets of about $70 billion, the largest of any US-listed semiconductor ETF.

That figure is roughly 1.5 times the net assets of SOXX (iShares Semiconductor ETF), which tracks the ICE Semiconductor Index and ranks second by assets.

KODEX US Semiconductor is a Korea-listed ETF that tracks the same MVIS US Listed Semiconductor 25 Index as SMH, allowing domestic investors to gain exposure to the same portfolio as the largest US semiconductor ETF in Korean won.

The fund invests in 25 globally significant semiconductor companies listed in the United States, including Nvidia, TSMC, Broadcom, ASML and Micron, and now adds SK hynix's ADR through this rebalancing. The fund's total expense ratio is 0.09 percent, and it is available through regular brokerage accounts as well as pension savings and retirement pension accounts, including individual retirement pension and defined-contribution plans. Assets under management stand at 1.25 trillion won ($903 million), and the fund posted a return of about 83 percent over the past year.

SK hynix leads the memory chip market through its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) products. With this addition, KODEX US Semiconductor now covers AI memory centered on HBM, alongside logic chips, foundry and semiconductor equipment.

Samsung Asset Management has also launched KODEX AI Semiconductor Top 2 Plus, which concentrates on Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, and KODEX US AI Memory Top 2 Plus, which focuses on Micron and SanDisk.

"The semiconductor industry underpinning AI is seeing multiple waves of change converging within a massive growth tide," said Han Dong-hoon, a fund manager at Samsung Asset Management. "The addition of SK hynix's ADR once again demonstrates that KODEX US Semiconductor is a product that swiftly reflects the latest trends and market representation."