SK Hynix priced its American depositary shares at $149 each. Trading begins today, July 10, on the Nasdaq under the temporary ticker SKHYV. The stock converts to its permanent ticker, SKHY, on Monday.

The South Korean memory chipmaker aims to raise about $26.5 billion (around 40 trillion Won) through the offering, with the funds intended to finance new factories and equipment to meet surging demand for AI chips.

Why Investors Are Watching Closely

The figure SK Hynix was initially aiming for has been reduced slightly, but even so, the sale still ranks as the largest-ever US equity debut by a foreign company. It also ranks as the world’s second-largest stock sale on record after SpaceX.

SK Hynix holds 56.4% of the global high-bandwidth memory market, according to its US securities filing. These chips power Nvidia’s AI processors, and surging demand for AI memory has kept prices at record highs through 2026.

The offering surpasses Alibaba’s $21.8 billion New York IPO. It trails only SpaceX’s Nasdaq debut last month, which raised $75 billion.

Meanwhile, in Seoul, SK Hynix’s stock price has been facing volatility alongside the KOSPI where it holds a weighting of approximately 25%.

SK Hynix will spend the proceeds on a new fabrication plant and an advanced packaging facility in South Korea. The company will also invest 11.9 trillion won in new EUV lithography equipment by the end of 2027.

Micron remains SK Hynix’s main US rival in memory chips. Analysts expect the Nasdaq listing to narrow the valuation gap between them, after Micron’s market cap rally this year.

UBS has told clients to expect a premium. It backs an ADR premium trade ahead of today’s debut.

Not everyone expects the boom to last.

“This is how memory always acts in any megacycle or supercycle… The problem is, it always crashes hard.”

Daniel Newman, CEO, Futurum Group

What Comes Next for SK Hynix

SK Hynix shares should open later today. Demand ran seven times the available supply during bookbuilding, according to reports of 7x demand.

Investors will now watch whether SK Hynix holds a premium over its Seoul-listed shares. They will also watch whether the memory rally still has room to run.

Source: BeInCrypto