Just in case you missed it: S&P 500 tech stocks are back. But as ETFs show, the tech stock rally is far from evenly distributed.
The top 10 largest tech ETFs are up as much as 25% in a month, in the case of Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X, and as little as 0.2% for the First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF, based on data from ETFDB and S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Such a separation of the tech winners and losers shows how investors are reapproaching ETFs in a discerning way as they race back from the early-year sell-off.
"Technology ETFs have recovered following weakness earlier in the year as investors have largely looked past the potential U.S. tariffs on major countries and refocused on the growth potential from artificial intelligence and other themes," said Todd Rosenbluth of TMX VettaFi.
Not Just The Magnificent Seven
Many investors might have assumed the so-called Magnificent Seven stocks would drive a tech recovery in unison. But it's been a much narrower rally.
Nvidia and Microsoft are big drivers. Nvidia won a record-setting market value of $4 trillion. And shares of Microsoft are up 5.5% in a month.
Given these stocks' huge weight in the Big Tech ETFs, it's easy to understand their rallies' power. The Technology Select Sector SPDR is up 6.1% this past month. That tops the 3.2% rise of the S&P 500 and 4.8% rise by Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF.
Microsoft and Nvidia "are the largest stocks in the S&P 500 (and heavyweights) in diversified technology ETFs like XLK," Rosenbluth says. Nvidia now has a 7.9% weight in the S&P 500, which is higher than any other stock. Microsoft is a 7.1% weight.
But Rosenbluth points out other S&P 500 tech stocks are also contributing. "Palantir Technologies has nearly doubled and now is a top-10 holding for such (tech) ETFs," he said. Palantir holds just a 0.6% weight in the S&P 500, but a much higher 3.1% weight in Technology Select Sector SPDR.
Gains by giant tech stocks like these have helped the ETFs like XLK, which are most focused on the largest stocks.
But another area seeing huge gains is semiconductor focused ETFs. VanEck Semiconductor ETF returned 43.3% in the past month, says Morningstar Direct.
"SMH is an industry focused semiconductor ETF that has risen higher," Rosenbluth said. "Unlike its diversified peers it does not own Apple which has fallen sharply in 2025."
Instead, the ETF has giant holdings in Nvidia at 21.5%, Taiwan Semiconductor at 10.9% and Broadcom at 9%.
Not All Techs Offer A Lift
But it's important to note not all tech giants' stocks are working. Alphabet and Apple have been a drag on performance, Rosenbluth says.
Shares of Apple are off more than 16% this year, although they're up roughly 6% in the past month. And Alphabet shares are off 3.4% this year and only up 3.5% in the past month.
The Apple anchor has tugged on tech ETFs all year. It's an 11.7% weight in Technology Select Sector SPDR. It's important to note Alphabet, despite running the Google search engine and being a player in AI, is in the communication services sector.
The future of the tech stock rally hinges on second-quarter earnings reports, due out this month.
"We believe tech stocks will have a very strong second half of the year kicking off with a robust tech earnings season on the doorstep ... with the AI revolution tailwinds now accelerating across semis, software and the enterprise and consumer landscape," said Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities.
Top Tech ETFs Are Mostly Rallying
It's been a solid one-month run
| ETF | Symbol | Assets ($ billion) | One-month % ch. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invesco QQQ Trust | QQQ | 352.4 | 4.3% |
| Vanguard Information Technology | VGT | 95.6 | 7.1% |
| Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund | XLK | 80.7 | 6.1% |
| VanEck Semiconductor | SMH | 27.3 | 9.9% |
| iShares U.S. Technology | IYW | 21.9 | 6.8% |
| Fidelity MSCI Information Technology Index | FTEC | 14.2 | 7.0% |
| Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares | SOXL | 13.8 | 24.6% |
| iShares Semiconductor | SOXX | 13.7 | 8.0% |
| iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector | IGV | 11.9 | 2.3% |
| First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity | CIBR | 9.9 | 0.2% |
