Are data center and AI power ETFs expensive right now?

Written by the ETF Copilot research team

Updated October 28, 2026

How XLU's valuation compares with its own past

All six funds, and where each sits in its own range

Value, quality and risk scores are ETF Copilot's own 0–10 measures computed across every fund we cover. Higher is better on all three, so a low value score means expensive. Where a column is highlighted, amber marks the least favourable reading of the group and green the most favourable.

The six funds are not interchangeable

Data center and AI power ETFs are bought for one story and built out of three different businesses: real estate that happens to be data centers, industrial equipment that happens to serve the grid, and regulated utilities that sell the electricity. They are priced the way their own industries are priced, which is why they do not move together.

The most expensive of the six is SRVR at 30.9 times earnings; the weakest on the quality of what it holds is VPU, scoring 3.6 out of 10. They are not the same fund, which is the point: price and company quality are two separate questions for data center and AI power ETFs, and a fund can be at the wrong end of either one on its own.

At the other end, XLU is the only fund of the six that is cheaper than the group's midpoint on our value score, at 8.3 out of 10, without also sitting below it on company quality — 3.8 out of 10.

Trailing earnings are the harshest lens available

What would have to be true for today's reading to hold

Stated as conditions, because a condition is checkable and because no ETF Copilot figure says what to do about any fund:

• The earnings have to arrive. XLU's multiple falls from 18.6 to 15.7 only if the forecast earnings are delivered in full. Delivered halfway, it is around 17.2 times.
• The way each fund is built has to keep mattering. DTCR holds 25 companies and scores 6.5 out of 10 on company quality; GRID spreads across 121 and scores 3.9. Those are two different bets wearing one label.
• The ride has to be tolerable. Our risk score runs 0 to 10, where 10 is the steadiest fund in the universe we cover. Across this group it runs from 1.7 for DTCR to 7.0 for RSPU, against 6.9 for VOO. The same funds produced both the multiples and those scores.

How this compares with the wider market

Data center and AI power ETFs are not the only funds trading away from their own past. QQQ is more expensive than 43% of its own record, at 27.9 times against a median of 30.2, and VOO is more expensive than 63% of its own record, at 24.7 times against a median of 22.6. The same measurement, applied to the other themes people ask about: semiconductor ETFs sit above 60% to 96% of their own records; AI ETFs sit above 0% to 57% of their own records; defense ETFs sit above 21% to 80% of their own records.

Is XLU expensive right now?

Against its own record, no on trailing earnings: XLU trades at 18.6 times against a median of 21.1, cheaper than 85% of its own last 9 years, and it has been above that median for 42% of the last 2 years. Against the earnings expected next year the same fund is at 15.7 times, so both lenses point the same way and this comparison of data center and AI power ETFs shows both.

Which data center ETF is cheapest against its own history?

RSPU, cheaper than 98% of its own last 3 years — the lowest of the six data center and AI power ETFs compared, relative to its own past. That is a different question from which fund is cheapest outright: on price alone the lowest multiple of the group is RSPU at 17.5 times. A fund can carry the lowest multiple in its group and still be expensive for itself.

Why do two data center ETFs show different P/E ratios?

Because two data center ETFs hold different companies in different proportions. A fund's price-to-earnings ratio is the weighted average of the ratios of what it holds, so a fund capped at the largest and most profitable names produces a different figure from one that equal-weights a much wider list. Providers also differ on trailing versus forward earnings, on how loss-making companies are handled, and on the date of the holdings file. Every ETF Copilot figure is computed the same way for every fund, from each fund's own published holdings.

Does a high P/E mean these funds will fall?

No. The ratio measures price against earnings already reported. It carries no information about what happens next, and reading a forecast into a measurement is the most common mistake made with it. What it does tell you is where a fund sits relative to what buyers have been willing to pay for the same fund in the past, which is a fact about the past and the present only.

Cite this
ETF Copilot, “Data center and AI power ETFs measured against their own price-to-earnings history”, figures as of October 28, 2026. https://etf-copilot.com/learn/are-data-center-etfs-expensive

Method. The trailing price-to-earnings ratio is computed by ETF Copilot from each fund's published holdings — every holding's ratio, weighted by its share of the fund — not quoted from a data provider. The monthly history uses the holdings held at each date, so the line is comparable with itself. “More expensive than” is the share of the fund's own history that sat below today's reading. Value, quality and risk are our own scores, where higher is better. Recalculated daily.

See XLU in full, and any of the funds we cover →

Sources: Global X DTCR fund page, State Street XLU fund page

Nothing on this page is investment advice, a recommendation, or a forecast of returns.