Don’t Get Left Behind: The AI ETF That’s Crushing the Market in 2025

AI ETFs are rewriting the rules of portfolio performance—and one fund is leaving the competition in the digital dust.

The Quantifiable Edge

While traditional funds chase yesterday's trends, this AI-focused ETF leverages machine learning algorithms that adapt faster than human analysts ever could. Its holdings span everything from semiconductor giants to emerging robotics platforms.

Why Wall Street Hates This Outperformance

Fund managers charging 2% fees for mediocre returns can't compete with algorithms that rebalance portfolios based on real-time data streams. The old guard still thinks AI is a buzzword—meanwhile, this ETF's methodology bypasses emotional decision-making entirely.

The Institutional Shift You're Missing

Pension funds and endowments started quietly allocating to this strategy last quarter. Retail investors are just catching up to what smart money already figured out: in markets dominated by algorithmic trading, you either ride the wave or get washed out.

Of course, past performance doesn't guarantee future results—but then again, neither does paying a wealth manager to underperform the S&P 500.

Image source: Getty Images.

All of those blue chip tech stocks are still reliable long-term investments. But if you want some balanced exposure to the AI market without buying individual stocks, you should consider investing in an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that is broadly diversified across dozens of top names.

The top AI-oriented ETF is the(AIQ 1.05%), which was launched on May 11, 2018. It's risen 225% since its inception and outperformed the's 144% gain and the's 205% gain. Should you still invest in this leading ETF today?

What does AIQ actually own?

AIQ holds 88 stocks across a wide range of industries. Its top five holdings -- which together account for 17.5% of its portfolio -- include,,, Oracle, and Broadcom. The IT sector accounts for 70.6% of its holdings, and 69.1% of its stocks are based in the United States.

By industry, AIQ allocates 37.6% of its portfolio to software and services stocks, 20.5% to semiconductor and semiconductor equipment stocks, and 12.5% to technology and hardware equipment stocks. But it splits the remaining 29.4% between industries that aren't as closely associated with the AI industry -- including the consumer discretionary, automotive, transportation, commercial services, financial services, and healthcare equipment industries.

AIQ says it invests "without regard for sector or geography" because the AI market "spans multiple segments" and the "most innovative companies" include "both household names and newcomers." AIQ has $5.26 billion in assets, and it charges a total expense ratio of 0.68%. That's slightly higher than the median expense ratio of 0.56% for actively managed ETFs. As of this writing, AIQ's shares are only trading a few cents above its net asset value (NAV) of $48.74 per share. It also trades at a reasonable 25.5 times its trailing earnings, compared to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq's price-to-earnings ratios of 30.8 and 32.9, respectively.

But there's a simpler ETF play on the AI market

AIQ consistently beats the market, it's well diversified, and it doesn't look expensive. But it has also underperformed another popular ETF, the(QQQ 0.62%), ever since its inception. QQQ, which tracks the narrower (and higher-growth)index, has rallied 252% since AIQ's first day on the market.

QQQ's top holdings include Nvidia, Microsoft,,, and Broadcom. All of those stocks have plenty of exposure to the AI market, and it doesn't own a lot of AIQ's slower-growth AI-adjacent stocks. QQQ is also passively managed -- since it simply tracks the Nasdaq-100 -- and charges a lower expense ratio of 0.2%.

Is it the right time to invest in AIQ?

AIQ is a stable ETF that could stay ahead of the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, but it's over-diversified in sectors that are only slightly related to the AI market. It might attract a lot more attention than other ETFs because it's branded as an AI ETF, but buying QQQ -- which gives you plenty of exposure to the top AI names -- seems like the smarter move.