SK Hynix raises $26.5B in largest US IPO by foreign firm, riding AI memory boom
South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix priced 177.9 million American Depositary Shares at $149 each on July 10, raising $26.5 billion in what became the largest US initial public offering by a foreign company, surpassing Alibaba's 2014 $25 billion debut. The offering was over 7 times oversubscribed, signaling strong investor appetite for AI infrastructure plays. SK Hynix shares began trading on Nasdaq under ticker SKHY and closed up 2.7% on the opening day.
The company's valuation reflects surging demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in AI training and inference workloads. SK Hynix holds 56.4% of the HBM market alongside Samsung and Micron, the three dominant suppliers for Nvidia partners. The South Korean firm posted record earnings in Q1 2026 with net income of $26.6 billion and revenue growth of nearly 200% year-over-year, powered by AI infrastructure build-outs across hyperscalers.
SK Hynix stock has soared 229% in 2026 and crossed a $1 trillion market cap in May alongside Samsung and Micron. The company plans to use IPO proceeds to fund new manufacturing facilities in South Korea and expand advanced packaging capacity. Broader context: South Korea announced plans to spend over $500 billion on chipmaking facilities as the nation races to maintain its edge in the AI era.
For architects, this signals memory supply remains a critical constraint on AI infrastructure scaling. HBM pricing power and allocation will remain key variables as hyperscalers continue building out data centers. SK Hynix's entrance to US public markets also reflects confidence that the current AI memory cycle is structural, not cyclical—though historical precedent suggests margin compression risk as capacity additions come online in 2027–2028.
Sources
- Primary source
- finance.yahoo.com
“SK Hynix said it will aim to raise roughly $28 billion in a US IPO. Demand for the offering has already exceeded the number of ADRs available.”
- cnn.com
“On Friday, semiconductor manufacturing giant SK Hynix begins trading at $149 per share, raising about $26.5 billion. The last foreign company to notch a record US debut was Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, which raised $25 billion in its 2014 IPO.”
- techxplore.com
“Friday's Nasdaq listing has enjoyed considerable interest and was more than seven times oversubscribed.”
- gurufocus.com
“SK Hynix's stock has soared by approximately 260% this year, surpassing a market valuation of $1 trillion.”