In this guide
They’re some of the biggest and most dynamic companies in the world, but there’s a catch – they’re all based overseas. Australians who want direct exposure to their growth need to invest in international shares listed on overseas stock exchanges.
There are good reasons for making the effort.
Gaining access to international markets provides opportunities that are not available in Australia, which represents less than 2% of the global share market value.
Australian shares are heavily concentrated in the financial and resources sectors, which means local investors are vulnerable to a downturn or negative sentiment in these industries. What’s more, some of the world’s most dynamic and profitable companies, and industries such as technology and pharmaceuticals, are not well represented on the ASX.
International shares also offer geographic diversity. If the Australian market is underperforming, your international shares may provide a buffer to your local equities.
In the year to 30 June 2025, international and Australian shares performed well (both returned 13.7% including dividends). But international shares did even better in unhedged terms, up 18.6% thanks to the weaker Australian dollar, led by the booming tech sector.
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And there you have it. Currency risk adds another layer of complexity when you invest in international shares. The return on your investments can be influenced negatively (and positively) by the value of the Australian dollar to the currency of the overseas assets you invest in.
Investors with a relatively small amount of money to invest overseas, or who lack the time or confidence to invest directly, generally opt to invest in international shares via a managed fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF) for low-cost instant diversification.
But some intrepid SMSF members with sufficient funds to build a diversified international portfolio of shares, or the conviction to select certain stocks, are choosing to invest directly.
The 20 most popular international shares SMSFs invest in
We live in a world where most of us carry a mobile, work on a laptop or tablet, shop online, tap and pay and spend hours each day checking our social media, streaming or googling information. So, it will come as no surprise that technology giants continued to dominate the top 20 direct international share holdings, accounting for 77.1% of the top 20 by market value.
In recent years, this trend gained further momentum from the global shift to working from home and the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI).
The top 20 list in 2025 was led once again by – you guessed it – Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), Amazon and Apple, in that order. While their ranking hasn’t changed, the percentage of funds holding these stocks has fallen a little, as has their dollar share of SMSF international share investments. Bucking this trend were leading AI computing groups, NVIDIA, Tesla and Meta (formerly known as Facebook).
In a rollercoaster year for the company, NVIDIA jumped from sixth (11.1%) to fifth place (13.1%) in 2024–25 due to its exposure to the exponential growth in artificial intelligence (AI). Meta leapt from 20th to 10th place while Tesla climbed from 10th to 7th despite owner Elon Musk’s on-and-off political flirtation with Donald Trump and negative consumer reaction.
Payments heavyweights Visa and Mastercard remained popular as consumers continue to shift away from cash to online purchases.
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Find out moreOther big hitters from the old economy had mixed fortunes. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is still high on the list, unchanged in eighth spot, while Johnson & Johnson and Walt Disney slipped down the ranks.
But in a sign of the times, semiconductor industry heavyweights ASML Holdings and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. cemented their place on the list in 11th and 12th place, respectively.
While the top 20 list below is ranked by the percentage of SMSFs with international shares that hold each stock, the company that attracted the most money was Microsoft, with 6.3% of the value of SMSF international share investments. It pushed last year’s top dog, Apple, into second place with 5.6%. The next biggest holding by value was Alphabet (Google) at 5.2% followed by NVIDIA, Amazon and Tesla, but the size of holdings faded markedly from there.
Top 20 international shares held by SMSFs
| Rank | Security code | Exchange | Description | % of funds with international shares that hold this security | % of total SMSF international share investments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MSFT | NASDAQ | Microsoft Corp | 30.0% | 6.3% |
| 2 | GOOG(L) | NASDAQ | Alphabet Inc – Class C (A) Shares combined | 26.1% | 5.2% |
| 3 | AMZN | NASDAQ | Amazon.com Inc | 23.5% | 4.0% |
| 4 | AAPL | NASDAQ | Apple Inc | 18.8% | 5.6% |
| 5 | NVDA | NASDAQ | NVIDIA Corporation | 13.1% | 4.6% |
| 6 | V | NYSE | Visa Inc | 10.8% | 1.8% |
| 7 | TSLA | NASDAQ | Tesla Inc | 10.4% | 3.5% |
| 8 | BRK.A/B | NYSE | Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Classes A & B combined | 9.1% | 3.2% |
| 9 | JPM | NYSE | JPMorgan Chase & Co | 8.7% | 1.1% |
| 10 | META | NASDAQ | META (formerly known as Facebook) | 8.6% | 1.3% |
| 11 | ASML | NASDAQ | ASML Holding NV | 8.4% | 0.6% |
| 12 | TSM | NYSE | Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. | 7.0% | 0.8% |
| 13 | MA | NYSE | MasterCard Inc | 5.6% | 0.9% |
| 14 | MC | NYSE | Moelis & Co | 5.4% | 0.3% |
| 15 | BAC | NYSE | Bank of America Corp | 5.1% | 0.5% |
| 16 | COST | NASDAQ | Costco Wholesale Corporation | 5.0% | 0.5% |
| 17 | DIS | NYSE | Walt Disney Company | 4.9% | 0.6% |
| 18 | LLY | NYSE | Eli Lilly And Co | 4.8% | 0.5% |
| 19 | AVGO | NASDAQ | Broadcom Inc | 4.6% | 0.2% |
| 20 | JNJ | NYSE | Johnson & Johnson | 4.5% | 0.3% |
| Total (Percentage that the top 20 make up of total SMSF investments in direct international shares) | 41.8% | ||||
Source: Class. Data as of 30 June 2025 derived from 189,000 SMSFs that use Class software.
International shares are likely to experience ongoing volatility in the year ahead, in the face of heightened geopolitical tensions and the unpredictable Trump presidency. But falling interest rates, moderating inflation and a healthy corporate sector should support the upward trend in shares.
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