Five exchange-traded funds market themselves around quantum computing as of August 2026, and "quantum computing ETF" means quite different things depending on which fund you're looking at.
Defiance Quantum ETF (QTUM)
QTUM is the oldest fund in this category by a wide margin, launched September 4, 2018, years before quantum computing became a retail investing theme. It tracks the BlueStar Quantum Computing and Machine Learning Index, charges a 0.40% expense ratio, and held $6.31 billion in assets across 85 holdings as of June 24, 2026, making it by far the largest fund on this list. Read the index name carefully: quantum computing and machine learning. QTUM's holdings include Nvidia, Intel, Micron, and Teradyne alongside pure-play names like IonQ, Rigetti, and D-Wave, which makes it closer to a broad semiconductor-and-AI fund with quantum exposure mixed in than a pure quantum bet.
VanEck Quantum Computing ETF (QNTM)
QNTM tracks the MarketVector Global Quantum Leaders Index, charges a 0.55% expense ratio, and held $811.8 million in assets as of July 31, 2026. Its top holdings as of that date: IonQ at 6.12%, Samsung Electronics at 6.01%, Honeywell at 4.69%, Boeing at 4.65%, and Infineon Technologies at 4.58%. That mix says something about how VanEck's index defines "quantum leader": alongside IonQ, a pure-play, it counts large industrial and semiconductor companies with quantum-relevant patent portfolios or business units, the same logic that puts Honeywell's Quantinuum stake and Samsung's semiconductor manufacturing capacity into a "quantum" fund.
WisdomTree Quantum Computing Fund (WQTM)
WQTM is the newest US-listed entrant, launched October 9, 2025, tracking the WisdomTree Classiq Quantum Computing Index with a 0.45% expense ratio and 41 holdings as of March 31, 2026. It's positioned against funds like QTUM specifically by stripping out the mega-cap technology names those funds lean on, aiming for concentration in companies more directly tied to quantum hardware, software, and cryptography. That positioning shows up in performance: WQTM was up roughly 19% year to date in 2026 against the Nasdaq-100's roughly 7% over the same period, though a single year of outperformance from a fund barely a year old isn't evidence of a durable edge either way.
Global X AI Semiconductor & Quantum ETF (CHPX)
CHPX launched its US-listed version on September 30, 2025 (a separate Ireland-domiciled UCITS version launched November 25, 2025, aimed at European investors), and held $235.4 million across 38 holdings as of mid-2026. The name is honest about what it is: an AI-semiconductor fund with quantum computing folded in as a secondary theme, not a quantum-first fund. If you want quantum exposure specifically rather than AI-chip exposure with a quantum label attached, read the holdings before assuming the name means what it sounds like.
iShares Quantum Computing UCITS ETF (QANT)
QANT launched December 3, 2025, tracks the STOXX Global Quantum Computing Index, charges a 0.50% expense ratio, and holds 30 positions. It's domiciled in Ireland as a UCITS fund, the European regulatory structure, which means it isn't typically available through an ordinary US brokerage account the way QTUM, QNTM, WQTM, and CHPX's US listing are. One caveat worth stating plainly: the holdings percentages showing up in current aggregator data for QANT are close enough to VanEck's QNTM figures that the overlap looks more like duplicated or miscached data than an independently verified snapshot of QANT's actual portfolio. Check iShares' own factsheet directly before treating any specific QANT holding percentage as confirmed.
ARKQ isn't a quantum computing fund
The ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (ARKQ) appears on several "best quantum ETFs" roundups, but it's a broader autonomous-technology and robotics fund with some quantum-adjacent names inside it, not a quantum computing fund by mandate or index construction. Check the actual mandate before assuming a name on a listicle tracks the theme it's filed under.
The overlap problem
IonQ and Honeywell show up as top holdings in more than one of these funds. Buying two or three of these ETFs for "diversification" often means paying two or three expense ratios for a meaningfully overlapping set of underlying positions, not independent bets. If you're comparing funds, checking the actual top-ten holdings list against each other matters more than the fund's name or marketing description, the same lesson our picks-and-shovels supply chain piece covers from the company side rather than the fund side.
Expense ratios run well above a typical index fund
Expense ratios here (0.40% to 0.55%) sit well above a typical broad-market index fund, the price of a concentrated, actively curated thematic index instead of a passive market-cap benchmark. This is not investment advice. For company-level detail on the hardware vendors these funds hold, our ranking of the top quantum computing companies is the place to go next.