SK Hynix raises $26.5 billion in record US listing by foreign firm
South Korean computer chip maker SK Hynix has raised $26.5 billion in its New York share offering, the largest ever listing by a foreign company in the United States.
The company, a key supplier to AI chip giant Nvidia, said on Thursday it sold 177.9 million American depositary shares at $149 each. On their first day of trading on the Nasdaq, the shares rose as much as 17%.
SK Hynix's market value crossed $1 trillion in South Korea earlier this year, driven by surging demand for artificial intelligence chips. Its share price has more than tripled in Seoul in 2024, helping lift the Kospi index by over 70% during the same period.
The memory chip maker is one of the world's leaders in the industry, which has been bolstered by hundreds of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure spending. Shares of rivals Samsung Electronics and Micron have also more than doubled in recent months.
The listing comes after the International Monetary Fund noted this week that rising AI investment is shielding tech-heavy economies like South Korea from the growth-sapping effects of the Middle East conflict.
Professor Jaewon Choi of Seoul National University said the US listing gives SK Hynix easier access to investment from the world's largest economy, which has fewer regulatory barriers than South Korea. Traders are watching the listing as a "yardstick to test the water" for continued investor enthusiasm in memory chip makers, Choi added.
The AI boom has spurred a wave of stock market listings. Several AI companies are reportedly preparing to go public, though no official filings have been confirmed.
