SK Hynix surges 12% after Micron earnings; blockbuster Nasdaq listing
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- SK Hynix shares surged more than 12% on Thursday, buoyed by stronger-than-expected quarterly results from US rival Micron and the company's plans to raise as much as 45.45 trillion won ($29.65 billion) via a Nasdaq ADR listing.
- Micron's fiscal third-quarter revenue more than quadrupled as demand for AI-related memory chips continued to surge, reinforcing expectations that the AI memory chip market remains supply-constrained.
- SK Hynix plans to issue 17.79 million new shares as American depositary receipts through the Nasdaq listing, with trading expected to begin July 10, according to a regulatory filing.
- The company said the ADR offering would broaden its investor base and allow "its true corporate value to be properly evaluated," with Futurum Group analyst Rolf Bulk calling it "a very positive read-across" that could narrow the valuation gap with Micron.
- SK Hynix is ramping up investment to meet booming demand, developing its Yongin semiconductor cluster in South Korea (operations expected 2027) and constructing a $4 billion advanced chip-packaging plant in Indiana; shares are up more than 300% year-to-date.
- The rally extended across Asia's tech sector, with Samsung Electronics gaining more than 5%, Tokyo Electron climbing about 7%, Advantest rising more than 4%, and SoftBank Group gaining around 5%.
Why it matters: The twin catalysts—Micron's revenue more than quadrupling on AI memory demand and SK Hynix's $29.4 billion Nasdaq listing slated for July 10—confirm the supply-constrained high-bandwidth memory market remains the hottest corner of the AI chip trade. SK Hynix's Korea-only listing has capped global investor access, and the ADR vehicle opens a direct US gateway while shares are already up 300%+ year-to-date. A sector-wide rally with Samsung up 5% and Tokyo Electron up 7% shows traders treating Micron's read-across as fresh validation rather than a one-stock story.
