Company Interview / The ETF winners and losers

Key points:

Strong ETF inflows push industry towards $400 billion in assets International equities and US tech-focused ETFs lead flows, including semiconductor themes Emerging market tech, particularly Asian semiconductors and Hong Kong tech, attracts growing interest Gold ETFs see weaker recent performance but remain important allocation tools

Australian ETF assets are approaching a $400 billion milestone, according to Alex Holmes from Betashares, who notes total industry funds sit around $372 billion with about $30 billion of net new money flowing in over the first half of 2026. Holmes states international equities continue to dominate ETF flows, followed by Australian equities, cash and fixed income, a pattern that in his view has remained largely unchanged for more than two years.

Holmes highlights strong investor appetite for US tech exposure via market-cap index ETFs and Nasdaq 100-style products, tied to ongoing enthusiasm for the technology and AI themes. He points to significant inflows into semiconductor-focused strategies, particularly those targeting Asian foundries and emerging market tech. Holmes cites the ASIA ETF as an example of a fund concentrating on high-quality Asian technology names, including Hong Kong-listed companies such as Alibaba and Tencent, which he describes as trading on lower valuations than US peers.

Underperformance is attributed by Holmes to areas such as gold ETFs, where performance has recently tailed off after strong prior gains, although he views gold products as ongoing asset-allocation tools and portfolio hedges. He adds that ETF adoption is broadening, with both younger investors and retirees using ETFs for low-cost, liquid access to global markets and previously hard-to-reach sectors.