When 80% of the world’s professional money managers agree on something, it’s worth paying attention. According to Bank of America’s latest global fund manager survey, released June 16, that consensus view is simple: semiconductors are the most crowded long position in risk assets right now.

The timing is telling. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, better known as SOX, just hit all-time highs, including a 5% surge in a single session leading up to the survey. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SMH) is up 99% year-to-date. Nearly doubled. In six months.

The crowded trade problem

Eight out of ten respondents in Bank of America’s survey described the semiconductor trade as crowded. That’s not a mild consensus. That’s near-unanimity among institutional investors managing enormous pools of capital.

The phrase “fear of heights” keeps surfacing in the findings. Fund managers aren’t necessarily bearish on chips. They’re just looking down from the ledge and getting vertigo.

What’s driving the climb

Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix have been among the major beneficiaries. These are the companies building the physical layer beneath every AI model, chatbot, and autonomous system currently capturing investor imagination.

The Bank of America survey also builds on prior findings that flagged concerns about a potential “AI bubble.” That language hasn’t softened. If anything, the crowding data suggests the concern is intensifying even as prices keep climbing.

What this means for investors

When 80% of fund managers identify the same crowded trade, the risk isn’t necessarily that semiconductors are overvalued today. It’s that any catalyst for selling, a disappointing earnings report, a geopolitical flare-up around Taiwan, a shift in AI spending forecasts, could trigger a stampede for the exits.

For crypto-native investors, the survey is notable for what it doesn’t mention. Digital assets and blockchain technology didn’t register as crowded trades or areas of concern, suggesting institutional capital remains focused on the AI-semiconductor narrative.