SK Hynix raises record $26.5B in largest-ever US ADR debut by foreign company

South Korean memory-chip maker SK Hynix completed the largest-ever initial public offering by a foreign company in the US, raising $26.5 billion through 177.9 million American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) priced at $149 apiece on July 9. The ADRs opened at $170 each on Friday, jumping 14% above the offering price, and will trade on Nasdaq under ticker SKHY. The listing surpasses Saudi Aramco's 2019 offering and underscores strong investor appetite for the chipmaker's dominant position in high-bandwidth memory for AI computing.

SK Hynix's position as a critical HBM supplier for AI data centers has made it indispensable to NVIDIA and other AI infrastructure leaders. The proceeds will fund new factories and equipment to meet surging demand for AI chips. Notably, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang stated last month that SK Hynix would remain his company's largest memory partner and that memory shortages would persist for years due to strong demand. SK Hynix also has benefited from being the most sought-after supplier of high-bandwidth memory, a role it built through 14 years of strategic bets.

Beyond capital, the US listing is expected to narrow SK Hynix's valuation gap with rival Micron Technology, which trades at a 12-month forward P/E of 6.66x despite lower market share in memory products, versus SK Hynix's 5.5x multiple. A Nasdaq presence may also open the door to inclusion in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, potentially prompting index-tracking passive funds to re-rate the stock. SK Hynix shares rose 0.6% in Seoul on the news, lagging the broader market, but the stock is up 680% over the past 12 months as AI demand has driven historic profits and annual bonuses near $574,500 per employee.

Architects watching AI infrastructure budgets should mark this as a capacity-constraint signal: SK Hynix's HBM dominance and multi-year shortage forecast means memory will remain a bottleneck and cost driver for any AI system relying on NVIDIA GPUs. The IPO unlocks capital for fab expansion, but supply relief is years away. Valuation arbitrage vs. Micron also signals that street may soon price HBM leadership and supply power into the stock more aggressively.