(July 6): SK Hynix Inc kicked off the formal marketing process for its US listing on Monday, as the South Korean chipmaker looks to capitalise on surging investor demand for the high-flying memory-chip sector.
The company is seeking to sell American depositary receipts (ADRs) representing about 17.79 million common shares, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, which would be valued at about US$28 billion ($36.22 billion) based on last Friday’s closing price in Seoul. The offering of ADRs comes after the firm’s Seoul-traded stock rallied about 260% this year, propelling the company’s market capitalisation above US$1 trillion.
A US listing for SK Hynix opens up a powerful fundraising channel for the world’s top supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), as demand for equipment used in artificial intelligence (AI) computing turbocharges companies’ spending plans. The firm and long-time rival Samsung Electronics Co are poised to ramp up investment in the country as part of a South Korean government-led initiative worth US$880 billion.
SK Hynix’s US listing joins a rush of tech giants tapping the market’s deep pools of capital to fund the buildout of AI infrastructure. SpaceX held the largest initial public offering in history earlier in June, while Alphabet Inc is set to raise US$85 billion to fund its AI plans.
The South Korean firm expects the ADRs to begin trading on July 10, according to an earlier regulatory filing. At the proposed size, SK Hynix’s ADR sale would be among the top three first-time share sales ever, depending on the exchange rate. It would rival Saudi Aramco’s US$29.4 billion 2019 debut, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Each ADR represents a 10th of a common share of SK Hynix, the filing showed. The shares fell 3.4% in South Korea on Monday, bringing down the potential size of the US offering from US$29 billion when the company filed in late June.
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Baillie Gifford, Coatue Management and Situational Awareness Partners have indicated an interest in buying as much as US$7 billion worth of ADRs in the offering.
SK Hynix is planning to “capitalise on global investor interest with a US stock listing”, said Dan Coatsworth, the head of markets at AJ Bell.
“The big question is whether this listing has come a little too late. Memory chip stocks have lost momentum in recent weeks, but investors might take the view that SK Hynix has solid long-term prospects rather than just being a flash in the pan.”
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Fresh supply
With an offering that’s expected to be the biggest ever listing by a foreign company on a US exchange, SK Hynix is making an outsize bet on the market’s ability to absorb more fresh supply of AI-related stock, even from a pioneer.
The company’s early shift to embrace HBM — and a relatively sluggish response by Samsung — made it the go-to provider for Nvidia Corp, bringing a huge windfall and vaulting the underdog past its rival by some measures. It controlled 57% of the global HBM market share by revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to data from Counterpoint Research.
SK Hynix’s operating profit for the first quarter jumped to 37.61 trillion won, a record high that compares with the average estimate by analysts for 35.7 trillion won. Sales nearly tripled to 52.58 trillion won.
US investors are betting that robust AI-related demand represents a secular growth story for memory stocks, which have traditionally been viewed as more cyclical in nature, with demand and growth rising and falling alongside PC and smartphone cycles. Memory and storage companies comprise the top four stocks in the S&P 500 Index this year.
Even large companies have scrambled to raise prices for popular consumer products to manage the rising costs of memory chips. Within a span of five hours, Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp hiked the prices for such products like Xbox video-game consoles, Macs and iPads. Both companies blamed an unprecedented shortage of memory chips driven by the AI boom.
Even if the gains from the chip scramble begin to moderate, a US ADR listing could still help SK Hynix narrow a gap in its valuation versus rivals. Asian issuers that already trade in the US include Taiwanese chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. TSMC’s US listing has enabled it to tap into foreign investor flows.
The offering is being led by Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co, with nine other banks also working on the deal. The company expects the ADRs to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol SKHY.
Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee
