VanEck Semiconductor ETF: Intel's Data-Center Surge Collides With a Tech Selloff

Intel's fastest revenue growth in 15 years clashes with Big Tech selloff and memory-chip losses, keeping the VanEck Semiconductor ETF volatile at €96.79.

The VanEck Semiconductor UCITS ETF is navigating a market defined by stark contradictions. While Intel just delivered its fastest quarterly revenue growth in 15 years, fueled by a data-center boom, a simultaneous rout in Big Tech and memory-chip stocks has kept the fund's price action volatile. The ETF currently trades at €96.79, eking out a 0.35% gain on Friday, but the trajectory tells a more complex story.

Intel's Breakout Quarter

Intel's second-quarter results, released Thursday, shattered analyst expectations. Revenue hit $16.13 billion, a 25.4% year-over-year surge — the strongest clip since 2011. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.42, double the consensus estimate of $0.21. The gross margin expanded to 41.8%, while the data-center and AI segment roared ahead with $6.26 billion in revenue, a 59% jump that easily beat the $5.37 billion analysts had penciled in. The foundry business also impressed, climbing 31% to $5.77 billion.

Looking ahead, Intel guided for third-quarter revenue between $15.8 billion and $16.8 billion, with EPS of $0.38 — both comfortably above Reuters poll estimates. CEO Lip-Bu Tan and CFO Dave Zinsner raised the 2026 capital expenditure budget to over $20 billion, up from a prior $18 billion plan. The company also disclosed Tesla as a customer for its upcoming 14A manufacturing process at the Terafab, while targeting mass production of 1.4-nanometer chips by 2028. Intel shares jumped as much as 12% in after-hours trading.

Beneath the headline numbers, however, lay a $12.5 billion accounting charge related to U.S. government CHIPS Act stakes, which pushed Intel to a GAAP net loss of $11 billion. Still, the operational momentum was undeniable.

The Big Tech Shadow

Those positive signals were quickly overshadowed by a broader selloff in mega-cap technology stocks on Thursday. The Nasdaq tumbled 2.42%, the S&P 500 shed 1.36%, and the Dow lost over 500 points. The catalyst: growing anxiety over AI-related capital spending, following disappointing signals from Alphabet and Tesla. Alphabet posted its first negative free cash flow since 2004 and lost roughly 7%, while Tesla cratered as much as 15% after a major earnings miss. In a single session, the Magnificent Seven collectively lost between $767 billion and $890 billion in market value, depending on the source. An oil price spike above $100 a barrel, triggered by Red Sea attacks and escalating Middle East tensions, added further pressure on growth-oriented tech names.

Memory-Chip Woes and TSMC's Margin Miss

The ETF's other heavyweight components added to the headwinds. TSMC, the Taiwanese contract manufacturer, saw its stock plunge 7.29% on July 17 after guiding for third-quarter gross margins of 65% to 67%, well below the market's 70% expectation. Memory-chip stocks also took a beating: Samsung and SK Hynix shares fell as much as 36% and 44%, respectively, from their peaks. Micron, despite reporting a staggering 346% revenue increase to $41.46 billion in its fiscal third quarter and EPS of $25.11, saw its stock slip 4.7% after hitting an all-time high of $1,255. Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore described the memory selloff as an "attractive entry point," noting that data-center memory prices are expected to rise at least 25% from the second to the third quarter.

A Tale of Two Time Horizons

These opposing forces are etched into the ETF's performance. Over the past seven days, the fund has gained 5.74%, a direct response to Intel's blockbuster report. But the 30-day picture tells a different story: a 5.46% decline, reflecting the TSMC and memory-chip rout. The fund sits 12.94% below its all-time high of €111.18, set on June 30. The U.S.-listed sister fund SMH, which tracks the same semiconductor index, lost 13.2% over the past month but remains up 44% over six months.

Year-to-date, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF is still up 81.70%, underscoring that the long-term AI-driven uptrend remains intact — even if short-term volatility, driven by Big Tech capex discipline and geopolitical jitters, continues to dominate the narrative. For investors, the semiconductor sector has become a market of extremes: record-breaking AI demand on one side, and punishing valuation risks on the other.