ARK Investment Management offloaded 23,573 shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) on July 17, totaling approximately $11.7 million at the closing price of $495.76. This transaction is part of a larger trend, with ARK selling 137,421 AMD shares in July alone, valued near $68.1 million.

Despite these sales, AMD remains the eighth-largest holding in the ARK Innovation ETF, representing 4.04% of the fund's portfolio as of July 16. The semiconductor stock declined over 11% last week following a sector-wide selloff that began after Micron Technology faced pressure amid reports of Chinese chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies planning a Shanghai IPO potentially raising up to $9.8 billion. Although AMD is not present in the memory market, investors took profits across the broader semiconductor industry after a strong performance earlier in the year. AMD's shares are still up 131.5% year to date.

Increased Investment in Space and Defense

On the buying side, ARK added 147,805 shares of SpaceX across multiple ETFs, investing about $19.4 million. The fund also acquired 115,827 shares of CoreWeave for approximately $8.4 million. Additional purchases include shares in Kratos Defense and Security Solutions and AeroVironment, highlighting a strategic focus on defense and aerospace sectors.

The ARK Innovation ETF is down 3.43% in 2026, compared to the S&P 500's 8.94% gain over the same period. Over five years, the fund has delivered an annualized return of negative 8.23%, versus 11.50% for the S&P 500. The ETF experienced net outflows of about $1.26 billion in the 12 months through July 16, according to VettaFi data.

Cathie Wood has expressed her view that technological innovation, especially through artificial intelligence, exerts a deflationary influence on the economy. She anticipates this will lead to lower inflation, reduced interest rates, and stronger growth, creating favorable conditions for innovation stocks.

AMD is expected to reveal new AI-focused products at its Advancing AI 2026 event on July 22 and 23, where CEO Lisa Su will unveil the MI450X accelerator and MI500 GPU family. UBS recently raised its price target for AMD to $700 from $670, citing solid AI accelerator demand. The bank forecasted 2027 revenue of $83.4 billion and earnings of $14.63 per share. AMD's next earnings report is scheduled for August.

This material is for informational purposes and does not constitute financial advice.