Nvidia, AMD, and Micron Technology Can Help This Unstoppable ETF Turn $250,000 Into $1 Million in 10 Years

• The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution would stand still without advanced chips and components.

• Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, and Micron provide some of that critical hardware, and their shares are up an average of 119% in 2025.

• The iShares Semiconductor ETF invests exclusively in semiconductor companies that can benefit from megatrends like AI.

• 10 stocks we like better than iShares Trust – iShares Semiconductor ETF ›

Top artificial intelligence (AI) developers like OpenAI and Anthropic continue to launch new models, each being “smarter” and more capable than the last. However, each new model also takes more computing power than its predecessors, thus requiring significantly more data center capacity.

Some of the largest providers of AI infrastructure, chips, and components include Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD)and Micron Technology (name: mu). Shares in those three companies rose by an average of 119% in 2025 alone, smashing the S&P 500 index, which only increased by 18%.

In other words, investors who had little or no exposure to the AI ​​semiconductor space this year probably underperformed the broader market.

Fortunately, there is a simple way to buy a slice of this hyper-growth industry without having to pick winners and losers. the iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ: SOXX) is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that invests exclusively in companies such as Nvidia, AMD, Micron, and many of their peers. See how it can turn a $250,000 investment into $1 million over the next 10 years.

The iShares Semiconductor ETF invests only in US companies that design, distribute and manufacture chips and components, but primarily those that benefit from opportunities such as AI. Its narrow focus is the reason its portfolio includes only 30 stocks. The fund is also quite heavy, with its three largest holdings having a combined weight of 22.7%:

Data source: iShares. Portfolio weights are accurate as of December 24, 2025, and are subject to change.

Nvidia’s graphics processing units (GPUs) are the best chips on the market for developing AI models. Its current Blackwell Ultra line was designed to deliver enough computing power for the industry’s latest reasoning models, such as OpenAI’s GPT 5.2, Anthropic’s Claude 4.5, and Alphabet‘s Gemini 3. I think Nvidia stock is still cheap despite its 41% gain in 2025, which leaves plenty of room for more upside from here.

AMD is going after Nvidia in the market for data center chips. The company’s latest MI350 Series GPUs have caught some of the best customers of its main rivals, but still fall modestly short in terms of performance. Next year, AMD plans to launch its new MI400 GPUs as part of a fully integrated data center rack called Helios, which can deliver 10 times more performance than its MI350 GPUs. This company could be a real threat to Nvidia at that point.

Then there is Micron Technology, which is one of the world’s leading suppliers of memory and storage chips. Both Nvidia and AMD have integrated Micron’s HBM3E (high-bandwidth memory) solutions into their data center GPUs to unlock their maximum processing speeds. Micron is already sold out of its entire 2026 supply of data center memory, including its upcoming HBM4E solution, which is poised to deliver improvements in both capacity and power efficiency.

Outside of its top three positions, the iShares ETF has several other leading AI semiconductor stocks such as Broadcom, Texas Instrumentsand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing.

The iShares Semiconductor ETF is on track to end 2025 with a whopping 43% gain. That’s not sustainable over the long term, but the ETF has delivered a compound annual return of 27.2% over the past decade, so it’s no stranger to high growth. Even its more modest average annual gain of 11.8% since its inception in 2001 is still better than the performance of the S&P 500 over the same period.

Here’s how long it might take for the iShares ETF to turn a $250,000 investment into $1 million, based on three different average annual returns:

Calculations by the author.

According to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, annual spending on AI data center infrastructure and chips could reach $4 trillion by 2030. If that happens, the iShares ETF is likely to deliver compound annual returns of more than 20% for the foreseeable future. But to be perfectly clear, this would not be sustainable under normal circumstances due to the law of large numbers.

For example, Nvidia is already a $4.6 trillion company. If its market cap grew by 27.2% per year for the next decade, it would be worth nearly $50 trillion. The output of the entire US economy was less than $30 trillion in 2024, so although AI is a revolutionary technology, it is important that investors temper their expectations.

Fortunately, the iShares ETF can still turn $250,000 into $1 million over the next 10 years even if its annual return moderates to just under 20%. According to the chart above, if investors are a little more patient, the ETF could also help them join the million dollar club in 13 years even if its returns suffer a significant reversion back to their long-term average of 11.8%.

But I think its revenue will likely remain elevated for now, considering virtually every chip is experiencing more demand than it can possibly supply.

Before buying stock in iShares Trust – iShares Semiconductor ETF, consider this:

the Motley Fool Stock Advisor a team of analysts has identified only what they believe they are 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and iShares Trust – iShares Semiconductor ETF was not one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix I made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you would have $509,470!* Or when Nvidia I made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you will have $1,167,988!*

Now, it is worth noting Stock consultant total average income is 991% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 196% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisorand join an investment community built by individual investors for individual investors.

See the 10 stocks »

*The Stock Advisor returns from December 29, 2025

Anthony Di Pizio has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Alphabet, Nvidia, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Texas Instruments, and the iShares Trust-iShares Semiconductor ETF. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Nvidia, AMD, and Micron Technology Can Help This Unstoppable ETF Turn $250,000 Into $1 Million in 10 Years was originally published by The Motley Fool