SK Hynix Sets Record With $26.5B U.S. IPO Amid AI Chip Boom

The artificial intelligence chip race has reached another major milestone as South Korean memory chip leader SK Hynix completed the largest U.S. stock market debut ever by a foreign company.

The company announced Friday that it raised $26.5 billion (KRW 40 trillion) through its Nasdaq listing, surpassing Alibaba’s historic $25 billion U.S. IPO completed in 2014.

To attract American investors, SK Hynix offered 177.9 million American Depositary Shares (ADRs) priced at $149 each. Each ADR represents roughly one-tenth of an ordinary share traded on the Korea Exchange, making it easier for U.S. investors to participate without purchasing full Korean-listed shares.

Investor demand proved exceptionally strong. According to media reports, orders exceeded the available shares by more than seven times. The enthusiasm continued after the listing, with the stock opening approximately 14% above its IPO price on Friday and continuing to climb during early trading.

The shares began trading on Friday, July 10, under the temporary Nasdaq ticker SKHYV. Beginning Monday, July 13, the company will trade under its permanent ticker, SKHY.

What makes the strong debut particularly noteworthy is that SK Hynix priced its U.S. shares at a 2.7% premium compared with the company’s three-day average share price in Seoul, according to its filing with the Korea Stock Exchange. Korean companies have traditionally struggled with what’s commonly referred to as the “Korea Discount,” where investors assign lower valuations than comparable global firms due to concerns such as complex corporate governance, relatively low shareholder returns, regulatory uncertainty, and geopolitical tensions involving North Korea.

SK Hynix appears to be breaking that trend thanks to its central role in the booming AI semiconductor industry.

The company is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, an essential component used alongside AI graphics processors. As demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure continues to surge, SK Hynix has become one of Nvidia’s primary suppliers, placing the company at the heart of the expanding AI hardware market.

According to its regulatory filing, the proceeds from the record-breaking offering will be invested in expanding production capacity. The funds will help finance a new semiconductor fabrication plant currently under construction in South Korea, build an additional chip packaging facility, and purchase advanced extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment used to manufacture next-generation semiconductor chips.

The record IPO comes as the United States continues efforts to strengthen its domestic semiconductor manufacturing industry.

During a Micron event on Thursday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said he has been discussing plans with both Samsung and SK Hynix about establishing additional semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the United States. His comments suggest Washington is seeking to reduce reliance on South Korea’s dominance in memory chip production while expanding advanced manufacturing capacity on American soil.

Micron, one of SK Hynix’s largest global competitors in the memory chip industry, has already committed to that strategy. The U.S.-based company recently announced plans to invest $250 billion in domestic semiconductor manufacturing, a move it says could create more than 90,000 jobs while keeping advanced chip production within the United States.

Lutnick’s push also comes shortly after South Korea’s two largest memory chip makers—Samsung and SK Hynix—committed to investing more than $550 billion in new manufacturing projects within South Korea, highlighting the growing global competition to secure leadership in AI chip production.

As artificial intelligence continues driving unprecedented demand for advanced memory chips, SK Hynix’s record-setting U.S. market debut signals growing investor confidence in companies supplying the technology powering the next generation of AI systems.

Also read : Nvidia Faces New Pressure as AI Memory Demand Outpaces GPUs