SK Hynix shares tumble after strong Nasdaq debut
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- SK Hynix shares fell more than 15% in Seoul on Monday, the company's biggest one-day decline in nearly two decades, while its US-listed ADRs dropped 9.2% to US$152.50 in premarket trading after a 12.8% first-day gain on Nasdaq.
- The selloff dragged South Korea's Kospi down 9%, triggering a 20-minute trading halt, with Samsung Electronics also sliding in sympathy.
- The rout came days after SK Hynix's Nasdaq debut, when ADRs priced at US$149 each raised over US$26 billion; Korean shares had more than tripled this year before Monday's plunge.
- Morningstar analyst Jing Jie Yu warned that fresh capacity arriving in 2027-2028 will improve supply dynamics and cause price erosion, while CEO Kwak Noh-jung pushed back, forecasting the industry's most severe supply shortage in 2027.
- NH Investment & Securities analyst Ryu Young-ho said investors had expected HBM4 chip shipments to ramp from Q2, but the increase has not materialized at scale, and SK Hynix is set to benefit less than rivals from a recent rise in conventional DRAM prices.
- After Monday's drop, SK Hynix's US ADRs traded at about a 37% premium to its South Korean share price; the company led the HBM chip market with a 58% Q1 revenue share, versus 21% each for Samsung and Micron Technology.
Why it matters: SK Hynix's 15% Seoul plunge — its worst in nearly two decades — unwound weeks of gains for investors who piled into the AI memory chip narrative. Morningstar analysts now see 2027-2028 oversupply risks, and the source notes HBM4 shipment increases investors expected for Q2 have not materialized at scale, setting up a tense earnings test for the world's leading HBM supplier.
