Defiance ETFs lists the first European UCITS ETF focused on memory on the LSE

Defiance ETFs has today listed the Defiance Memory UCITS ETF (ticker: DRAM) on the London Stock Exchange. It is the first European UCITS ETF dedicated to memory chip and data storage companies.

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Article created by the editorial staff of ETFWorld.co.uk

Sylvia Jablonski, chief investment officer at Defiance ETFs

The product is issued via HANetf’s white-label platform, has an annual expense ratio (TER) of 0.69 per cent and is a reinvestment fund.

It is the fourth UCITS ETF launched in Europe by Defiance since the US fund manager entered the European market at the start of 2026.

Fund objective and structure

The fund offers targeted exposure to companies that design, manufacture, market and manage memory semiconductor storage and data storage systems. The universe covered includes high-bandwidth memory (HBM), DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), NAND and NOR flash memory, solid-state drives (SSDs), memory controllers and emerging memory technologies.

As it is a reinvestment class, the ETF does not distribute income: dividends and interest are reinvested in the fund.

Index methodology

The Defiance Memory UCITS ETF tracks the Indxx Defiance Global Memory Chip Select Index, a rules-based, market-capitalisation-weighted index. The index selects globally listed companies operating across the entire memory and storage value chain.

To be eligible, securities must have a primary listing on a stock exchange in a developed or emerging market, a minimum market capitalisation of $500 million, an average daily trading volume over six months of at least $1 million, and a minimum free float of 10%.

Companies are categorised into five themes: volatile memory (DRAM, LPDDR and HBM); non-volatile memory (NAND and NOR flash and SSDs); memory IP and interface chips; the memory ecosystem; and mass storage systems. Companies generating at least 50 per cent of their revenue from these activities are considered ‘pure-play’, whilst those generating between 20 per cent and 50 per cent are considered ‘quasi-play’.

The portfolio is constructed from the top 20 pure-play companies by market capitalisation. When there are fewer than 20 eligible pure-plays, quasi-play companies are added in order of market capitalisation. The maximum weighting for any single stock is set at 10 per cent, rising to 15 per cent for quasi-plays. Rebalancing takes place quarterly, in February, May, August and November.

Why memory, why now

Demand linked to artificial intelligence, cloud computing and data centres is absorbing an increasing share of advanced memory capacity. According to the launch press release, leading manufacturers are prioritising higher-margin segments — high-bandwidth memory and server DRAM — over more standardised consumer applications. The shift in supply towards AI infrastructure and hyperscale data centres is resulting in higher input costs and reduced availability for manufacturers of everyday devices.

Much of the investment thesis rests on price forecasts. According to Gartner, cited in the press release, prices for DRAM and SSDs could rise by up to 130% by the end of 2026. By the same year, memory capacity is expected to be insufficient to meet global demand.

The European launch follows a significant US precedent. The Roundhill Memory ETF — also listed under the ticker DRAM, but in the US — was the first pure-play memory ETF: launched on 2 April 2026, it surpassed $10 billion in assets under management in around 30 trading sessions, the fastest pace of inflows ever recorded for an ETF. Until the launch of the Defiance product, exposure to the sector via ETFs was only available in the US.

The sector is concentrated among a small number of manufacturers. The key names in the pure-play universe are SK Hynix, Micron Technology, Samsung Electronics, Kioxia and SanDisk: given the market-capitalisation weighting methodology, these are the stocks set to carry the greatest weight in the index. Over the previous five months, the shares of the two South Korean leaders, SK Hynix and Samsung, rose by over 150 per cent, with SK Hynix reaching, according to Morningstar, a market capitalisation of close to 1,300 billion dollars. This performance explains investor interest, but also the risk profile: the memory market is cyclical and rapid spikes in demand make it difficult to forecast long-term earnings.

Defiance’s European range and the role of HANetf

Defiance ETFs, founded in 2018, manages over 75 thematic, income and leveraged ETFs, with exposure concentrated in high-growth sectors such as AI infrastructure, quantum computing and drones. At the time of its European launch in March, the manager had approximately $8 billion under management.

With the Memory UCITS ETF, Defiance’s European range now comprises four products: the Defiance AI & Power Infrastructure UCITS ETF (AIPO), the Defiance Memory UCITS ETF (DRAM), the Drone UCITS ETF (DRON) and the Ukraine Reconstruction UCITS ETF (UKRN). All are issued via HANetf, an independent platform specialising in UCITS ETFs that provides fund managers with the operational, regulatory and distribution infrastructure needed to list their strategies in Europe.

Sylvia Jablonski, Chief Investment Officer at Defiance, described memory as the cornerstone of the artificial intelligence economy, noting that every model training session, every inference workload and every expansion of hyperscale data centres depends on DRAM, HBM and advanced storage. According to Jablonski, the fund offers European investors direct, rules-based access to this segment of the AI value chain, complementing the exposure to energy infrastructure already available through AIPO.

Hector McNeil, co-founder and co-CEO of HANetf, emphasised that the sector has seen significant growth in recent months, driven primarily by AI and its associated infrastructure, and highlighted how the new ETF complements AIPO, which focuses on energy infrastructure supporting the expansion of AI.

Source: ETFWorld.co.uk