Defiance Launches AIX: The First ETF Targeting the AI Beneficiaries Within the Nasdaq 100
MIAMI, June 25, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Defiance ETFs, a leader in thematic and leveraged exchange-traded funds, today announced the launch of the Defiance US 100 Tech AI Moat ETF (Nasdaq: AIX), which is designed to provide exposure to companies that the Index Provider identifies as potential beneficiaries of artificial intelligence within the Nasdaq 100. The Fund seeks to track the total return performance, before fees and expenses, of the Indxx US 100 Tech AI Moat Index, which starts with the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq and narrows them to the companies it identifies as positioned to benefit from, or structurally withstand, the expansion of artificial intelligence due to a durable competitive advantage, or “AI moat.” Simply put, the fund is intended to provide exposure to companies the Index considers to have stronger AI-related characteristics while excluding those it considers more vulnerable.
Defiance built AIX around a simple question: as artificial intelligence reshapes technology, which companies may be better positioned and which may face greater competitive pressures? The Fund’s index is built to separate the two. It screens out the tech companies it considers most exposed to AI disruption, including the enterprise software, application platforms, and digital knowledge services whose core products large language models and AI agents can increasingly replicate, embed, or displace, and then concentrates in the companies it considers to have the most durable AI moats*. In Defiance’s view, an AI moat is a competitive advantage that AI tends to widen rather than erode, built on assets such as proprietary data, hard-to-replicate models, deeply embedded AI capabilities, and the semiconductors and infrastructure that every AI system depends on.
AIX uses a passive, index-based approach. The underlying index begins with the 100 largest Nasdaq-listed non-financial companies, removes the companies it identifies as most vulnerable to AI-driven disruption, limits the remaining names to eligible technology and technology-related industries, and then scores those companies on three weighted measures: research and development intensity, AI business exposure, and verifiable AI investment and development. The 30 highest-scoring companies form the portfolio, weighted by market capitalization with a 4.9% cap on individual positions and rebalanced semiannually. As of the Fund’s launch, the Index was concentrated in the semiconductors industry.
We believe the most important question in technology investing is no longer who is building AI, but who potentially benefits from it. AIX is designed to give investors focused exposure to the companies the index identifies based on its AI moat methodology within the Nasdaq 100, in a single ticker.
“Most major technology waves create a short list of beneficiaries that come out structurally stronger, and a long list that may get disintermediated,” said Sylvia Jablonski, Chief Investment Officer of Defiance ETFs. “With AI, we believe the dividing line is the moat. Proprietary data, hard-to-replicate models, embedded AI, and the chips and infrastructure everything runs on are advantages that AI tends to widen, not erode. AIX is designed to provide exposure to companies identified by the Index methodology within the Nasdaq 100, the companies with those moats, and to screen out companies that the Index methodology identifies as more exposed to AI-related disruption.”
For full fund details, the prospectus, holdings, and performance current to the most recent month-end, visit defianceetfs.com/AIX or call 833.333.9383.
About Defiance ETFs
Founded in 2018, Defiance is a leading ETF issuer specializing in thematic, income, and leveraged ETFs. Our first-mover leveraged single-stock ETFs empower investors to take amplified positions in high-growth companies, providing precise leverage exposure without the need to open a margin account.
Media Contact: Brenda Hentschel | bhentschel@gregoryagency.com | 201.705.3758
* The Fund considers an AI moat to be an economic moat within the AI ecosystem, such as a company's proprietary data sets, superior technical models, or deeply embedded AI capabilities, each of which has been objectively defined in the Index methodology through measurable criteria. Such criteria include a company's R&D expenditure as a percentage of revenue, a company's AI business exposure based on industry classification, and verifiable evidence of a company's AI development and investment that enable the company to maintain its competitive advantage over rivals, despite general advances in AI experienced by all companies as a whole.
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES
Defiance ETFs, LLC is the Fund’s investment adviser. Tidal Investments LLC (“Tidal” or the “Sub-Adviser”) serves as the Fund’s sub-adviser.
The Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses must be considered carefully before investing. The prospectus and summary prospectus contain this and other important information about the investment company. Please read the prospectus and/or summary prospectus carefully before investing. For a prospectus or summary prospectus with this and other information, go to defianceetfs.com. Hard copies can be requested by calling 833.333.9383.
Investing involves risk. Principal loss is possible. As an ETF, the Fund may trade at a premium or discount to NAV. Shares are bought and sold at market price (not NAV) and are not individually redeemed from the Fund. A portfolio concentrated in a particular industry or sector, or in a small number of holdings, may be subject to a higher degree of risk. There is no guarantee the Fund will achieve its investment objective, and an investor may lose some or all of its investment.
AI Moat Strategy Risk. The Index seeks to identify companies with durable competitive advantages related to artificial intelligence, or AI moats, and to exclude companies it considers vulnerable to AI-driven disruption. These determinations are based on the Index Provider’s methodology and the data available to it, which relies in part on publicly reported and company-disclosed information about AI activities that may be promotional, incomplete, or inaccurate, and that may not correctly predict how AI affects a given company. There is no guarantee that companies included in the Index will benefit from or withstand developments in AI, that excluded companies will underperform, or that the strategy will achieve its intended results. The Fund may underperform other funds, including funds that hold the companies the Index excludes.
Concentration Risk. The Fund’s investments will be concentrated in an industry or group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. In such an event, the value of Shares may rise and fall more than the value of shares of a fund that invests in a broader range of industries. As of the date of the Fund’s prospectus, the Index was concentrated in the semiconductors industry.
Semiconductors Industry Risk. Companies in the semiconductors industry can be significantly affected by intense competition, aggressive pricing, changing demand, rapid product obsolescence, high research, development, and capital costs, and the availability and price of components. The semiconductors industry is highly cyclical, and the stock prices of semiconductor companies have been, and may continue to be, highly volatile.
Depositary Receipt Risk. The Fund may invest in American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), which involve risks similar to those of investing in foreign securities, including currency, political, and economic risks. ADRs may not provide a return that corresponds precisely with that of the underlying foreign shares.
Equity Market Risk. The equity securities held by the Fund may experience sudden, unpredictable declines in value, as well as longer periods of decline, due to factors that affect securities markets generally or particular issuers, industries, or sectors. Common stocks generally carry greater risk than preferred stocks and debt securities.
ETF Risks. As an ETF, the Fund is subject to risks that include a limited number of Authorized Participants, market makers, and liquidity providers; trading costs and bid-ask spreads; the potential for Shares to trade at a premium or discount to NAV; and the possibility that an active trading market for Shares may not develop or be maintained, or that trading may be halted.
Foreign Securities Risk. Investments in non-U.S. securities, including through ADRs, involve risks not typically associated with U.S. investments, including currency fluctuations, the imposition of tariffs, political or economic instability, and less publicly available information about issuers.
Index Methodology Risk. The Index may not include all U.S. tech companies with an AI moat because it includes only those companies that meet its criteria. For example, companies that would otherwise be included might be excluded if they omit discussion of their AI capabilities from descriptions of their business in regulatory filings or otherwise keep such information from public view.
Index Provider Risk. There is no assurance that the Index Provider, or any agents acting on its behalf, will compile, determine, maintain, construct, reconstitute, rebalance, or calculate the Index accurately. Any losses or costs associated with errors made by the Index Provider or its agents generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.
Market Capitalization Risk.
Large-Capitalization Investing. The securities of large-capitalization companies may be relatively mature and subject to slower growth during times of economic expansion, and such companies may be unable to respond quickly to new competitive challenges.
Mid-Capitalization Investing. The securities of mid-capitalization companies may be more vulnerable to adverse issuer, market, political, or economic developments than those of large-capitalization companies, may trade in lower volumes, and may be subject to greater and more unpredictable price changes.
Non-Diversification Risk. Because the Fund is non-diversified and holds a relatively small number of positions, it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund. As a result, the Fund may be more sensitive to adverse developments affecting a single issuer or a small number of issuers, which may increase the Fund’s volatility.
Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and generally will not sell a security due to current or projected underperformance unless that security is removed from the Index or in connection with a reconstitution or rebalance. The Fund does not take temporary defensive positions in declining markets.
Sector Risk. To the extent the Fund invests more heavily in particular sectors of the economy, its performance will be especially sensitive to developments that significantly affect those sectors.
Information Technology Sector Risk. The Fund is generally expected to invest significantly in the information technology sector, including the semiconductor industry. Information technology companies can be affected by rapid changes in technology product cycles, product obsolescence, government regulation, and intense domestic and international competition, and their stock prices may be more volatile than the broader market. These companies are heavily dependent on intellectual property rights and may be subject to operational and cybersecurity risks.
Securities Lending Risk. The Fund may lend portfolio securities. Securities lending involves the risk that the borrower may fail to return the securities on a timely basis, or that the value of the collateral may decline, either of which could result in a loss to the Fund.
Tracking Error Risk. As with all index funds, the performance of the Fund and the Index may differ for a variety of reasons. For example, the Fund incurs operating expenses and portfolio transaction costs not incurred by the Index, and the Fund may not be fully invested in the securities of the Index at all times or may hold securities not included in the Index.
New Fund Risk. The Fund is a recently organized investment company with no operating history. As a result, prospective investors have no track record or history on which to base their investment decision.
One cannot invest directly in an index.
Brokerage commissions may be charged on trades.
Distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC.
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