SK Hynix raises $26.5bn in record US listing
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- SK Hynix raised $26.5bn via 177.9 million American depositary shares priced at $149 each — the largest-ever US listing by a foreign company — with shares surging as much as 17% on the first day of Nasdaq trading.
- Demand for the offering ran more than 7x oversubscribed, letting SK Hynix price shares 2.9% above its Seoul-listed stock rather than offer the traditional IPO discount.
- SK Hynix shares have more than tripled in South Korea this year, lifting its market value past $1tn in May and helping push the Kospi benchmark up more than 70%.
- SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics now both hold market capitalizations above $1tn, joining Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet in the trillion-dollar club.
- South Korea's government unveiled $880bn+ in investment plans in June, in partnership with SK Hynix and Samsung, to expand domestic chip-making and AI capabilities.
- The IMF said this week that a global surge in AI infrastructure spending is actively shielding tech-heavy economies like South Korea from the growth-stifling effects of the war in the Middle East.
Why it matters: SK Hynix's record raise gives an AI supply-chain linchpin cheaper access to US capital while it partners with Samsung on South Korea's $880bn+ domestic chip and AI investment plan. The 7x oversubscription and premium pricing suggest memory-chip appetite still has room to run beyond this listing.
