3 ETFs that give investors access to global tech beyond the US

It's easy for investors to assume that everything interesting in the tech space is happening in the United States, but that is simply not the case. Frontier AI developers like Mistral in France and DeepSeek in China are among a growing number of firms advancing technology and threatening the dominance of U.S. companies. With varying regulations and other potential barriers, it can be difficult for investors to access these companies.

Difficult does not mean impossible, however, and more and more exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with an international global focus are available to domestic investors, opening up access to winners in the global data boom. Even better, many of these funds are available without a premium price tag, although it is, of course, important for investors seeking international tech plays to keep an eye on how much non-U.S. exposure each fund below includes.

U.S.-Dominant Tech ETF With a Concentration Caveat

The iShares Global Tech ETF (NYSEARCA: IXN) is a semiconductor-focused fund that also provides significant access to tech hardware and equipment, software, and services. U.S. exposure dominates the fund, despite its global focus, with more than 77% of the portfolio dedicated to domestic investments. Still, the remainder is broadly dispersed across Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, the Netherlands, and other countries.

Investors with a portfolio that already includes U.S. tech names should beware that IXN has significant positions in both NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), the two largest holdings in the basket and totaling about 28% combined. Indeed, the top 10 out of nearly 146 positions make up nearly 61% of the fund's invested assets-despite having a fairly broad list of names in the basket, IXN is a highly concentrated ETF.

Nonetheless, IXN's performance is competitive: the fund has returned more than 25% year to date (YTD), outshining the broader market. The ETF's expense ratio of 0.41% is fairly modest, and with $9 billion in managed assets and a one-month average trading volume of 375,000, it should not cause liquidity problems for active traders.

A Down-But-Not-Out AI and Robotics Play

Capturing both the broader AI movement and the robotics space, the Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF (NASDAQ: BOTZ) has a mandate to invest in companies benefiting from industrial and non-industrial robotics applications, autonomous vehicles, and more. Less than a third of the fund is given over to U.S.-listed companies, with a comparable portion dedicated to Japan-listed stocks. Other countries represented in the portfolio include China, Switzerland, South Korea, and more.

BOTZ has a unique theme and a specialized list of 67 international stocks in its portfolio, and with that comes a higher fee. Investors will face an expense ratio of 0.68% for this ETF, which has a smaller asset base than IXN but trades at nearly triple the average trading volume.

Trading volume has grown substantially over the last year or more, a potential sign of investor interest and confirmation of the fund's thesis. On the other hand, BOTZ has not fared as well as IXN this year, declining slightly YTD, much of which may be attributable to the recent drop in AI stock prices.

A Broad Emerging Markets Play That Could Be a Tech Proxy

The iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEARCA: IEMG) may be a surprising fund to find on this list, given that it is a broad emerging markets (EM) play without a specialized strategy in tech. However, given that nearly 39% of the portfolio is tech stocks, with industrials making up another 8%, this fund offers ample exposure to the global data boom.

Adding to the appeal may be IEMG's geographic focus: the fund has no U.S. equities whatsoever, investing instead in a broad array of stocks listed in Taiwan, South Korea, China, India, Brazil, and elsewhere. IEMG's draw also lies in its low-cost nature, as the fund's expense ratio is only 0.09%. This makes IEMG one of the cheapest ways to build a diversified EM portfolio for buy-and-hold investors.

Among the nearly 2,800 positions in IEMG's basket, clustered at the top in terms of concentration are a host of major AI and tech names. With the top 50 positions accounting for about 47% of assets, the weighting of the tech space in this fund becomes clear.

IEMG's returns of 18% YTD are stronger than the S&P 500's over the same period. The key advantage of this fund may be its ability to build exposure to a compelling set of stocks from outside of the United States.

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