South Korean semiconductor giant SK Hynix has raised $26.5 billion in its New York share offering, marking the largest-ever stock listing by a foreign company in the United States.
SK Hynix, a critical supplier of high-bandwidth memory chips to artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaker Nvidia, announced on Thursday that it sold 177.9 million American depositary shares (ADS) at $149 each. The shares are scheduled to begin trading on Friday on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Driven by the global AI boom, the company's market value in South Korea surpassed $1 trillion in May. Its share price in its home country has more than tripled this year, helping boost South Korea's benchmark Kospi index by over 70% during the same period.
According to finance experts, the Nasdaq listing offers SK Hynix smoother access to the vast investment pool of the world’s largest economy, which has fewer barriers than South Korea's domestic market. Jaewon Choi, a finance professor at Seoul National University, noted that traders are closely watching the listing as a yardstick to gauge whether investor enthusiasm for memory chip makers will persist. Demand for the offering was exceptionally high, reportedly exceeding the available shares by more than seven times.
Each American depositary share is equivalent to one-tenth of a Seoul-traded common share. This structure allows US investors to invest in the chipmaker directly without navigating overseas stock exchanges.
The capital raised is expected to support SK Hynix's domestic expansion. The company has pledged substantial investments to develop South Korea's semiconductor manufacturing and AI capabilities. In June, the South Korean government unveiled plans for a massive partnership worth over $880 billion in investments with SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics.
However, the Nasdaq listing is not without risks. Yun Youngjin, a business professor at Hanyang University, warned that the listing could lead to capital flight, as investors might shift their money toward the US market and away from South Korea's stock exchange.