SMH vs SPY: how much do they really overlap?
SMH (VanEck Semiconductor ETF, tracking the MVIS US Listed Semiconductor 25) and SPY (SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, tracking the S&P 500) overlap by roughly 32% by weight. 7 of SMH's top 10 holdings also appear in SPY. A 50/50 blend of the two behaves like about 31 equally-weighted bets (diversification grade B). In short, the two funds share a meaningful core of the same megacaps, but each also brings real exposure the other lacks.
The same companies, in both funds
These 7 holdings appear in both SMH and SPY. The weight columns show how much of each fund each name represents.
| Holding | in SMH | in SPY |
|---|---|---|
| NVDA NVIDIA Corporation | 18.16% | 7.38% |
| AVGO Broadcom Inc. | 5.49% | 2.76% |
| MU Micron Technology, Inc. | 5.99% | 2.02% |
| AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. | 5.44% | 1.38% |
| INTC Intel Corporation | 5.09% | 0.97% |
| AMAT Applied Materials, Inc. | 5.35% | 0.86% |
| LRCX Lam Research Corporation | 5.00% | 0.80% |
Only in SMH
VanEck Semiconductor ETF — semiconductors. Its biggest holdings that SPY doesn’t have:
| TSM Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited | 9.04% |
| KLAC KLA Corporation | 4.94% |
| ASML ASML Holding N.V. | 4.89% |
| MRVL Marvell Technology, Inc. | 4.49% |
| TXN Texas Instruments Incorporated | 4.29% |
| ADI Analog Devices, Inc. | 4.19% |
| QCOM QUALCOMM Incorporated | 4.12% |
| CDNS Cadence Design Systems, Inc. | 2.33% |
Only in SPY
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust — US large-cap. Its biggest holdings that SMH doesn’t have:
| AAPL Apple Inc. | 6.47% |
| MSFT Microsoft Corporation | 4.28% |
| AMZN Amazon.com, Inc. | 3.68% |
| GOOGL Alphabet Inc. | 3.24% |
| GOOG Alphabet Inc. | 2.60% |
| META Meta Platforms, Inc. | 1.93% |
| TSLA Tesla, Inc. | 1.81% |
| LLY Eli Lilly and Company | 1.52% |
So — partly overlapping. Should you hold both?
SMH and SPY share a meaningful core of the same megacaps, but each also brings real exposure the other lacks. Held together they keep a shared megacap core but each still pulls in exposure the other lacks, so a 50/50 blend spreads to ~31 effective positions (grade B).
Holdings as of — SMH: Jun 27, 2026 (VanEck); SPY: Jun 29, 2026 (State Street Global Advisors). Refreshed monthly. Overlap is measured across each fund’s largest holdings (top 25); the diffuse long tail barely moves the math.
See this for YOUR whole portfolio, free →SMH vs SPY — FAQ
- How much do SMH and SPY overlap?
- SMH and SPY overlap by approximately 32% measured by portfolio weight — that is the share of the smaller fund's holdings (by weight) that also sit inside the other. 7 of SMH's 10 largest holdings are also held by SPY. They share 7 of their listed top holdings in total.
- Is it redundant to hold both SMH and SPY?
- Because they share a meaningful core of the same megacaps, but each also brings real exposure the other lacks, holding both is partly redundant: you double up on a shared core (NVDA) while each fund still adds distinct exposure. A 50/50 blend has an effective 31 positions and a B diversification grade.
- What does SPY hold that SMH doesn't?
- SPY's largest holdings that SMH doesn't hold include AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL, GOOG. Its category is US large-cap, versus SMH's semiconductors.
- Which is more concentrated, SMH or SPY?
- SMH's top 10 holdings are 69% of its listed weight; SPY's are 71%. The more concentrated fund leans harder on its largest names.