Defiance ETFs has launched the Defiance Global Foundries ETF (NASDAQ:AIFR), which it says is the first U.S.-listed ETF dedicated to semiconductor foundries.
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The ETF targets the manufacturing layer of the AI supply chain, offering exposure to companies that fabricate chips designed by others. The fund tracks the MarketVector Global Foundries Index, which selects 10 companies globally involved in semiconductor foundry operations, including wafer fabrication across advanced, mature and specialty nodes.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company accounted for roughly 72% of global foundry revenue in the first quarter of 2026, according to TrendForce. The world’s 10 largest foundries generated a record $169.5 billion in revenue in 2025, as AI demand expanded beyond GPUs into custom accelerators, networking and power-management chips.
AIFR carries an expense ratio of 0.71%.
QUICK CONTEXT: AI Boom Shifts Toward Chip Manufacturing
The AI investment story has largely focused on chip designers and the companies building data center infrastructure. Defiance’s new ETF takes a different approach by targeting the manufacturers that actually turn chip designs into physical semiconductors.
Foundries sit at a critical point in the semiconductor supply chain because many fabless chip companies rely on external manufacturers rather than owning their own leading-edge fabrication plants. That makes foundry capacity increasingly important as AI demand spreads across GPUs, custom silicon, networking chips and power-management semiconductors.
AIFR’s index includes both pure-play foundries and diversified semiconductor companies with economically significant foundry businesses. Companies need to derive at least 50% of revenue from foundry-related activities or generate at least $2 billion in annual foundry revenue to qualify. The index is rebalanced quarterly and caps individual holdings at 20%.
The fund can also invest up to 15% of its assets in private companies involved in semiconductor foundry services.
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