SK Hynix Targets $28B US IPO in AI Memory Boom
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- SK Hynix filed Monday to sell ~17.8 million shares in a U.S. IPO via American depositary receipts — each representing one-tenth of a common share — with pricing set for Thursday and trading to begin Friday, per the SEC filing
- SK Hynix could raise ~$28 billion based on its Seoul closing price last Friday, per Bloomberg, in what would be one of the year's largest listings
- SK Hynix posted Q1 revenues up nearly 200% year-over-year and stock up ~260% year-to-date, fueled by demand from hyperscalers Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle building out AI data centers
- The AI memory shortage — dubbed "RAMageddon" — spans HBM, DRAM, and NAND chips, with Apple already raising Mac and iPad prices as a result
- South Korean chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung have pledged to spend $550 billion+ on new manufacturing capacity, though the source flags oversupply risk once those facilities come online
- Micron, SK Hynix's closest U.S. comparable, surged nearly 700% over the past year to a $1 trillion+ valuation on the same AI demand driving SK Hynix's growth
Why it matters: U.S. investors gain direct access to the world's second-largest memory chipmaker through ADRs pricing ahead of Friday trading, one of the year's largest listings at a ~$28 billion target. With Micron up ~700% to a $1T+ valuation on similar AI demand, U.S. traders now have a second major pure-play on the memory shortage powering hyperscaler AI data center buildouts — though the $550B+ Korean capacity buildout carries the risk of oversupply crashing prices once facilities come online.
