AI memory giant SK Hynix prices $26.5 billion Nasdaq listing after 7x investor demand

Wall Street is making another big bet on the AI infrastructure boom. SK Hynix has priced its American Depositary Receipts at $149 each, raising about $26.5 billion in one of the largest U.S. equity offerings by an Asian company. Investor demand exceeded the number of available shares by more than 7 times, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring strong confidence in the South Korean chipmaker at the center of the AI supply chain.

The offering comes as SK Hynix strengthens its position as the world’s leading supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key technology used alongside Nvidia’s AI processors in data centers running large language models and other AI workloads.

According to Reuters, the company declined to comment on the final pricing or investor demand. The people familiar with the transaction requested anonymity since the details were confidential.

SK Hynix’s ADRs are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq on Friday under the ticker symbol SKHY. The company had previously referenced a price based on its July 3 closing price in Seoul. By Thursday’s close, its shares traded at 2,186,000 won, with each common share represented by ten ADRs, Reuters reported.

Founded in 1983 as Hyundai Electric Industry, SK Hynix has grown into the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker behind Samsung Electronics and the third-largest semiconductor company overall. The company produces DRAM and NAND flash memory chips, though its recent success has come from dominating the fast-growing HBM market that has become one of the most important building blocks for AI computing.

The proceeds from the U.S. listing will help fund new factories and manufacturing equipment as demand for AI memory chips continues to outpace supply. The listing is expected to broaden SK Hynix’s access to U.S. investors and could help narrow the valuation gap with rival Micron Technology, which trades at a higher forward earnings multiple despite holding a smaller share of the HBM market.

Micron currently trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of about 6.66, compared with roughly 5.5 for SK Hynix.

“SK Hynix leads on share and Nvidia proximity, Micron competes on power efficiency, U.S. positioning, and momentum from third place,” said Daniel Newman, CEO of technology research firm Futurum Group.

SK Hynix’s AI memory lead has turned years of investment into a competitive advantage

SK Hynix’s rise did not happen overnight. The company spent more than a decade investing in high-bandwidth memory technology long before AI became Wall Street’s favorite investment theme. Those early bets have positioned the company as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the surge in spending on AI infrastructure.

“As long as there is demand for graphic processors and AI data centers, SK Hynix is indispensable,” said Yoo Hoi-jun, an electrical engineering professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang reinforced that view last month, saying SK Hynix would remain Nvidia’s largest memory partner. Huang added that the shortage of advanced memory chips is likely to continue for several years as AI demand keeps climbing.

Rolf Bulk, Head of Semiconductors and Infrastructure at Futurum Equities, expects that demand will keep rising.

“AI demand keeps inflecting, currently driven by mostly by strong datacenter CPU demand. HBM demand also remains strong: we expect the market to grow from about $65 billion this year to $120 billion next year and about $290 billion by 2030,” he said.

That outlook has helped push SK Hynix shares up about 680% over the past year, one of the strongest performances in the global semiconductor sector. The stock has pulled back roughly 25% during the past two weeks after a steep rally, though it still gained 5% in Thursday’s trading.

The company’s earnings have climbed so sharply that employees are expected to receive annual bonuses averaging about $574,500, making SK Hynix one of South Korea’s most sought-after employers.

Ken Mahoney, CEO of Mahoney Asset Management, said SK Hynix’s manufacturing scale continues to set it apart.

“SK Hynix holds the edge in production scale and maturity. Across the board, since demand is far outweighing supply, they have had tremendous pricing power,” Mahoney said. “So, generally speaking, their first mover advantage is and was their strength.”

The Nasdaq listing comes at a time when investors are rewarding companies supplying the hardware behind AI. Chipmakers building memory, processors, networking equipment, and data center infrastructure have become some of the market’s biggest winners as enterprises continue pouring billions of dollars into AI systems.

Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and J.P. Morgan are underwriting the offering. SK Hynix’s primary listing will remain on the Korea Exchange in Seoul.

The company previously disclosed that Baillie Gifford Overseas, investment funds managed by Coatue Management, and Situational Awareness Partners had each expressed interest in purchasing portions of the offering, with a combined potential purchase of up to $7 billion.

Lee Min-hee, an analyst at BNK Investment & Securities, said the U.S. listing is unlikely to produce a major rally in the company’s domestic shares. South Korean companies still trade at what investors often call the “Korea discount,” reflecting long-standing concerns about corporate governance that continue to weigh on valuations.