Prediction: The VanEck Semiconductor ETF Will Double Again Before 2032

Asking the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) to double again could seem greedy after the run it's been on. Shares trade near $631 as of this writing, about five times their price five years ago. And since closing 2025 at $360.13, the chip fund has gained about 75%.

Still, I think it can double once more before 2032. A fund priced around $631 has to hit about $1,260 in a bit over five years, which comes out to gains of about 14% a year.

Sure, a doubling isn't certain. Chip stocks rise and fall with an industry that moves in cycles, and the industry is in one of the best stretches it's ever seen.

Image source: Getty Images.

How hard is 14% a year?

Compared with the fund's own history, not very. According to VanEck, the fund's total return through Sept. 30 averaged around 30% a year since its December 2011 launch, and the pace picked up over shorter stretches, to about 34% a year over 10 years, 37% over five, and 62% over three. Put another way, the fund could rise at less than half its 10-year pace and still double before 2032.

Poor timing hasn't stopped it lately, either. An investor who bought at the fund's late-December 2021 high saw it drop around 45% by mid-October 2022. Those shares had still doubled by September 2025.

Sure, the past decade has arguably been the best run chip stocks have ever had. A full cycle looks more modest.

The iShares Semiconductor ETF launched in July 2001, so its history covers the end of the dot-com crash and the 2008 financial crisis. From its launch through June 30, it averaged around 15% a year.

In short, my prediction doesn't need another decade like the last one. It needs chip stocks to earn around what they have over a full cycle, awful years and all.

A rich starting price

The harder part is where the fund starts. VanEck put the fund's holdings at around 37 times earnings at the end of September, but the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) was closer to 29 times earnings in early October.

If the fund's price-to-earnings ratio stays flat, its holdings' total earnings must roughly double by the end of 2031. But if the valuation multiple drops to the S&P 500's level, earnings have to rise closer to 20% a year to take the fund to the same price.

For now, the industry is growing far faster than either pace. Global chip sales hit $159.7 billion in August, up 144% year over year, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. Monthly sales have risen for 18 months straight. And the trade group said the industry's sales in 2026 had already topped $1 trillion through August, a first.

Memory is the biggest risk

Much of that jump comes from memory chips, fueled by demand from AI data centers. And memory is arguably the most cyclical part of the industry.

The fund's two memory makers, Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) and SK Hynix, made up around 9% of the portfolio as of Oct. 2.

Showing how extreme the memory boom has become, Micron posted revenue of $54.2 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter of 2026 (the 14-week period ending Sept. 3, 2026), almost five times its revenue a year before and up around 31% from the previous quarter. Its gross margin rose to about 87% from about 45%. And net income soared to $37.7 billion from $3.2 billion.

Margins like that usually haven't lasted in memory. As recently as fiscal 2023, in the industry's last slump, Micron's revenue dropped around 49% and the company lost $5.8 billion. When supply catches up to demand, prices can fall quickly, and profits can fall even faster.

My prediction might miss if memory profits unwind as the fund's valuation multiple shrinks, and both come late in the five-year window.

The fund may not have time to recover. A drop like 2022's in 2030 or 2031 might leave it far short of $1,260.

Still, I think the odds favor a double. The prediction asks the industry for something near its long-term average, starting from a year of record sales. And the investor who bought at the 2021 high shows that even a steep drop early in the window doesn't have to sink a five-year bet.

But I'd expect at least one stretch between now and 2032 when doubling looks out of reach.

Daniel Sparks and his clients do not have positions in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Micron Technology and iShares Trust - iShares Semiconductor ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.