According to @KobeissiLetter, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF SMH recorded a weekly inflow of $1.3 billion, surpassing its previous high of $1.2 billion from Q1 2022 and more than doubling this year's weekly average, source: The Kobeissi Letter on X, Nov 12, 2025. At the same time, the 3x leveraged Nasdaq 100 fund TQQQ saw $1.2 billion in net inflows, source: The Kobeissi Letter on X, Nov 12, 2025. US-listed ETFs took in $43.0 billion for the week, lifting year-to-date inflows to a record $1.14 trillion, source: The Kobeissi Letter on X, Nov 12, 2025. The source characterizes investor appetite for tech stocks as extremely strong, underscoring concentrated positioning in semiconductors and leveraged Nasdaq 100 exposure, source: The Kobeissi Letter on X, Nov 12, 2025.

According to @nic__carter, the positioning can be read as either name-specific alpha versus the semiconductor basket or a barbell that is long AI infrastructure such as data centers and power while bearish chipmakers, with the book still net long despite a gigantic SMH put. Source: @nic__carter on X, Aug 15, 2025. SMH’s largest exposures are NVIDIA NVDA, Taiwan Semiconductor TSMC, and Broadcom AVGO, so a short via SMH put concentrates downside risk to these names. Source: VanEck Semiconductor ETF SMH fund documentation and holdings. A long AI infrastructure tilt is consistent with surging data center electricity needs, with the IEA estimating global data center power use could reach 620–1050 TWh in 2026 from about 460 TWh in 2022, which supports utilities and power-equipment beneficiaries over chipmakers in relative terms. Source: International Energy Agency, Electricity 2024 report. For crypto, AI infrastructure demand is already flowing to Bitcoin miners’ revenue lines as miners sign AI compute hosting deals, exemplified by Core Scientific’s multi-year agreements totaling 200 MW plus with CoreWeave, linking AI buildout to BTC miner cash flows. Source: Core Scientific press releases, June 2024. Trading takeaway: monitor the relative spread between SMH and listed power and data center beneficiaries, and watch BTC miner equities and hashrate-linked plays for flow-through when AI infrastructure outperforms chips. Source: @nic__carter on X; VanEck SMH documentation; IEA Electricity 2024; Core Scientific June 2024 press releases.