J.P. Morgan Making Sense · November 13, 2026 · 15 min

Revving the ETF vehicle: Roundhill’s CEO on DRAM, next-gen innovation and more

With Dave Mazza

Summary

Roundhill Investments CEO Dave Mazza joins J.P. Morgan Making Sense to discuss the firm's ETF launches and its thematic approach to the market. The central argument is that memory semiconductors have become a genuine bottleneck in the AI build-out, with Micron, SK Hynix and Samsung strong performers over the prior 12 to 18 months, and that investors lacked a clean way to own them, which is the rationale for the DRAM ETF bundling these makers. Mazza also frames AI infrastructure and data center capital expenditure as a durable structural opportunity, even if spending advances unevenly and US data center funding is currently debated. He further argues that retail investors are more sophisticated than commonly assumed and now account for roughly 20 to 25% of average daily US volume, up from 8 to 10% before COVID, making them a meaningful influence on price setting and a risk factor for the market.

Key takeaways

Dave Mazza on AI chips & semiconductors: Memory chip makers are a true bottleneck in the AI build-out, which DRAM's thesis is built on.
Dave Mazza on AI infrastructure & data centers: AI build-out spending is a structural, longer-term opportunity despite near-term data center funding debates.
Dave Mazza on Market sentiment, positioning & volatility: Retail investors are more informed than believed and now drive a much larger share of price setting.

What was said, by company and theme

3 views from 1 speaker. Every quote is checked against the episode's transcript (how).

AI chips & semiconductors

Dave Mazza · Roundhill Investments
Memory chip makers are a true bottleneck in the AI build-out, which DRAM's thesis is built on.
Roundhill's research team saw the memory semiconductor space emerging as a true bottleneck in the AI build-out. Memory names such as Micron, SK Hynix and Samsung had performed strongly over the prior 12 to 18 months. That view is the basis for the DRAM ETF, which bundles these memory makers in one fund because investors lacked clean access to them.
“the idea that the memory semiconductor space was emerging as a true bottleneck in the AI build out.”at 5:08

AI infrastructure & data centers

Dave Mazza · Roundhill Investments
AI build-out spending is a structural, longer-term opportunity despite near-term data center funding debates.
He expects AI build-out spending to advance in fits and starts, and sees the current debate over data center funding in the US as a sign of that. Over the longer term, he argues, the capital expenditure being spent to build what the AI build-out requires is visible and durable. He therefore treats the build-out as a structural opportunity rather than a passing narrative.
“the AI build out is gonna go in fits and starts ... longer term, can see the CapEx that's being spent to build what's required for the AI build out. So in that case, there's kind of a structural opportunity.”at 8:18

Market sentiment, positioning & volatility

Dave Mazza · Roundhill Investments
Retail investors are more informed than believed and now drive a much larger share of price setting.
He argues direct retail investors today are significantly more informed than most people believe. Retail's share of daily US market volume was roughly 8 to 10% before COVID and is now around 20 to 25% on average. That larger role gives them more influence in price setting, so he treats retail investors as a risk factor in the market.
“they're significantly more informed than I've really I think most people believe them to be.”at 11:21

Topics

data center capex
memory chips demand
retail trading

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