FLTW39: Franklin Templeton’s ETF BDR offers access to Taiwan’s technology driven market

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Franklin Templeton has brought FLTW39 to Brazil’s B3 exchange. The BDR is backed by shares of the Franklin FTSE Taiwan ETF, which trades in the United States under the ticker FLTW. This is the third article in DEX’s series covering the asset manager’s five ETF BDRs.

The fund holds large and mid sized companies listed in Taiwan. Its defining feature is its sector concentration: information technology accounts for 75.70% of the portfolio, while financial companies represent 13.95%. As a result, FLTW39 is closely tied to Taiwan’s semiconductor industry and the global electronics supply chain.

How FLTW39 works

FLTW39 trades in Brazilian reais on B3 and is backed by shares of FLTW, which has traded on NYSE Arca since 2017. The US ETF seeks to track the FTSE Taiwan RIC Capped Index, a market capitalization weighted index with limits on individual holdings to reduce concentration. The underlying ETF’s expense ratio is 0.19% per year.

Investors gain exposure to Taiwanese stocks through a security traded in Brazil. Because the investment is not currency hedged, the BDR’s price in reais is also affected by exchange rate movements between the Taiwanese stocks, the US listed ETF and the Brazilian market.

TSMC and MediaTek make up nearly 30% of the portfolio

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is FLTW’s largest holding at 19.51%. The company manufactures chips designed by other businesses. MediaTek, which designs semiconductors for a range of devices, accounts for 10.45%. Together, they represent 29.96% of the portfolio.

Delta Electronics (4.95%), Hon Hai Precision, also known as Foxconn (4.11%), and ASE Technology (3.11%) round out the five largest positions. Their businesses span chip manufacturing and design, power infrastructure, electronics assembly, and semiconductor packaging and testing. The five holdings account for 42.13% of the ETF.

Company results help explain the strength of this supply chain. TSMC’s revenue rose 53.3% in August from a year earlier and 39.3% in the first eight months of 2026. At Delta Electronics, demand linked to data centers supported its power electronics and infrastructure businesses, helping operating profit grow 64% year over year in the second quarter. MediaTek’s quarterly revenue increased 1.2%, as growth in smart device platforms offset weaker smartphone chip demand. These companies serve different markets, but much of the portfolio remains exposed to the global technology cycle.

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What the return history shows

FLTW has returned 80.54% in US dollars year to date in 2026, compared with 25.23% for EEMA, an ETF that holds stocks across emerging Asian markets. The gap is 55.31 percentage points. While EEMA invests across several countries, FLTW focuses on Taiwan, where technology has a particularly large weight.

That concentration has also mattered during downturns. In 2022, FLTW fell 27.50%, versus a 21.49% decline for EEMA. In 2023, the Taiwan fund gained 30.09%, compared with 6.84% for the regional ETF. A single country portfolio can therefore perform quite differently from a broader Asian fund in either direction.

These figures are the returns of the US listed FLTW ETF in dollars, not the performance history of FLTW39 on B3. Returns for an investor holding the BDR in reais also depend on exchange rates and the security’s trading price in Brazil.

FLTW39 combines exposure to Taiwan with substantial holdings in companies that supply the global technology industry. The performance of its largest companies, semiconductor demand, currency movements and regional geopolitical developments are therefore central factors in understanding the product.

This article is for informational and educational purposes and does not constitute an investment recommendation.