South Korea's SK Hynix raised approximately $26.5 billion in its US listing, marking the largest share sale by a foreign issuer in American history. The company priced its American Depositary Receipts at $149 each, beginning trading on Nasdaq on July 10 under ticker SKHY.
Demand was more than seven times oversubscribed, reflecting voracious appetite for the dominant supplier of High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips — the critical component powering Nvidia's AI processors.
At the Center of the AI Gold Rush
SK Hynix's fortune is built on 14 years of strategic bets on HBM technology. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said last month that SK Hynix would continue to be Nvidia's largest partner, warning the memory chip shortage would persist for years.
"As long as there is demand for graphic processors and AI data centers, SK Hynix is indispensable," said Yoo Hoi-jun, electrical engineering professor at KAIST.
The company's stock surged 680% over the past 12 months, with profits so enormous that each employee is expected to receive an annual bonus of approximately $574,500.
Narrowing the Valuation Gap
The US listing helps narrow SK Hynix's valuation gap with US rival Micron. Funds raised will finance new factories to meet surging AI chip demand. Major investors including Baillie Gifford, Coatue Management, and Situational Awareness Partners indicated interest in purchasing up to $7 billion of ADRs.
Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan underwrote the offering. SK Hynix's primary listing remains in Seoul.
The HBM market is projected to grow from $65 billion this year to $290 billion by 2030.
