Cathie Wooden, chief of Ark Funding Administration, is thought for actively buying and selling her holdings, generally promoting shares throughout sharp market pullbacks.
Semiconductor shares skilled a serious market pullback on Might 15, with the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) dropping roughly 4%. Amid that sell-off, Wooden bought hundreds of thousands of {dollars} price of shares in a single chipmaker firm.
In 2025, Wooden’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF gained 35.49%, far outpacing the S&P 500’s return of 17.88% in the identical interval. To date this yr, Wooden’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) was down 3.81%, trailing the S&P 500’s acquire of greater than 8%.
Wooden gained a repute after the Ark Innovation ETF delivered a 153% return in 2020. However her type additionally brings painful losses in bearish markets, as seen in 2022, when the Ark Innovation ETF tumbled greater than 60%.
These swings have weighed on Wooden’s long-term good points. As of Might 7, the Ark Innovation ETF has delivered a five-year annualized return of -6.25%, whereas the S&P 500 has an annualized return of 13.80% over the identical interval, in response to knowledge from Morningstar.
Cathie Wooden expects “nice acceleration” introduced by tech developments
Wooden focuses on high-tech corporations throughout synthetic intelligence, blockchain, biomedical know-how, and robotics. She thinks these companies have robust development potential, although their volatility usually causes fluctuations within the Ark’s funds.
In response to Morningstar analyst Bella Albrecht, two of Wooden’s Ark funds had been among the many worst-performing ETFs within the first quarter of 2026. The Ark Subsequent Era Web ETF (ARKW) ranked second on the record, whereas the ARK Innovation ETF positioned fifth.
From 2014 to 2024, the Ark Innovation ETF worn out $7 billion in investor wealth, in response to an evaluation by Morningstar’s analyst Amy Arnott. That made it the third-biggest wealth destroyer amongst mutual funds and ETFs in Arnott’s rating. The analyst hasn’t up to date the 2025 rating.
In a March Bloomberg podcast, Wooden says the worldwide financial system will not be heading right into a downturn, however into what she calls a “nice acceleration” pushed by AI and different breakthrough applied sciences.
“We’re not going into the Nice Melancholy, we’re going into the nice acceleration,” Wooden stated, pointing to how previous technological revolutions reshaped financial development.
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She famous that international actual GDP development averaged simply 0.6% between 1500 and 1900, earlier than the Industrial Revolution lifted it to round 3% for greater than a century. Now, she argues, a brand new wave of innovation might push development a lot greater.
“We predict [technologies] are going to take development into the 7 to eight% vary,” Wooden stated, including that the quantity may very well be conservative.
Wooden additionally emphasised that AI is quickly driving down prices throughout industries.
“These applied sciences are deflationary,” she stated. “AI coaching prices are dropping 75% per yr, and inference prices are falling as a lot as 85% to even 98% yearly.”
In an earlier letter printed in January, Wooden rejects the “AI bubble” discuss, saying that it “is years away” and that “essentially the most highly effective capital spending cycle in historical past” is coming.
Some buyers appear to agree with Wooden’s optimism. Over the previous 5 days by way of Might 14, the Ark Innovation ETF noticed roughly $1.48 billion in web inflows, in response to knowledge from ETF analysis agency VettaFi.
Over the previous 5 days by way of Might 14, the Ark Innovation ETF noticed roughly $1.48 billion in web inflows, in response to knowledge from ETF analysis agency VettaFi.Getty Pictures
Cathie Wooden sells $40.6 million of Taiwan Semiconductor inventory
On Might 14 and 15, Wooden’s Ark funds bought a complete of 100,549 shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Firm (TSM), or TSMC, in response to Ark’s every day commerce info. These shares are valued at about $40.6 million.
Shares of TSMC, the world’s largest devoted contract semiconductor foundry and a key provider of Nvidia (NVDA), are up roughly 35% yr thus far as buyers wager on a a lot larger semiconductor market and an increasing position for the corporate within the AI provide chain.
Associated: Cathie Wooden buys $12.9 million of tumbling tech inventory
TSMC simply revealed that it now sees the semiconductor market reaching $1.5 trillion by 2030, topping its earlier forecast of $1 trillion, in response to its presentation supplies forward of a tech symposium on Might 14, Reuters reported.
The corporate has turn into a key producer for the AI trade as a result of most superior AI chips can’t be mass-produced with out Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Firm’s chipmaking and superior packaging know-how.
Among the many $1.5 trillion 2030 chip market, TSMC sees 55% of demand tied to AI and high-performance computing.
In April, TSMC reported rosy first-quarter 2026 outcomes. Income elevated 35.1%, web revenue and diluted EPS each elevated 58.3%, and gross margin reached 66.2%.
These figures are effectively above Wall Road‘s expectations. The corporate additionally raised its full-year 2026 outlook to greater than 30% income development in U.S. {dollars}.
“AI-related demand continues to be extraordinarily sturdy,” TSMC CEO C.C. Wei stated on the Q1 earnings name.
“Our enterprise within the first quarter was supported by robust demand for our modern course of applied sciences,” TSMC’s CFO Wendell Huang stated in a press launch. “Shifting into second quarter 2026, we anticipate our enterprise to be supported by continued robust demand for our modern course of applied sciences.”
Barclays raised its worth goal on TSMC to $470 from $450 and maintained an obese ranking on the shares after the earnings, The Fly reported.
The analysts stated TSMC reported one other quarter of” spectacular supply” with an sooner than anticipated steerage improve, the analyst wrote in a analysis word.
Barclays believes TSMC’s AI demand momentum is about to proceed, making the inventory “a core holding.”
TSMC will not be within the prime 10 holdings of Wooden’s Ark Innovation ETF.
High 10 holdings of the Ark Innovation ETF as of Might 15, 2026:
Aside from promoting shares of TSMC, Wooden’s latest buying and selling exercise included purchases of Cerebras Programs (CBRS), whereas promoting Superior Micro Gadgets (AMD), Twist Bioscience (TWST), Teradyne (TER), and CareDx (CDNA).
