SK Hynix Channels Record $26.5 Billion ADR Proceeds into Chip Capacity as Nasdaq Listing Draws Seven-Times Demand

SK Hynix raises $26.5B in largest foreign IPO on Nasdaq, oversubscribed 7x, to finance NAND fab and EUV tools amid AI boom. Shares up 222.9% YTD but Seoul market in bear territory.

The money flowing into SK Hynix's landmark Nasdaq offering has a clearly mapped destination: a new NAND flash fabrication plant in Cheongju and a fresh batch of ASML's most advanced EUV lithography tools, among the costliest and most coveted pieces of equipment in the semiconductor industry. The capital deployment underscores the South Korean company's bet that the artificial-intelligence boom will sustain demand for its specialty memory chips for years to come.

SK Hynix commands an estimated 57–58% share of the High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) market, the high-speed chips that sit at the heart of Nvidia's AI accelerators. The group remains Nvidia's primary memory partner, and CEO Jensen Huang has described the shortage of such components as a multi-year phenomenon. The Nasdaq listing is designed to fund capacity for exactly that trajectory.

Seven-Times Oversubscription Surpasses Alibaba's 2014 Record

The offering priced at $149 per American Depositary Receipt, a 3.1% premium over the stock's latest close in Seoul. A total of 177.9 million ADRs — each equivalent to one-tenth of an ordinary share — will hit the market, raising approximately $26.5 billion. That sum eclipses the $25 billion Alibaba raised in its 2014 U.S. debut, making it the largest U.S. IPO by a foreign company ever. Only SpaceX's stock placement ranks higher in absolute size.

Demand was breathtaking: orders piled up to around $171.5 billion, more than six times the deal size. Among the investors that signaled interest in stakes worth up to $7 billion were Baillie Gifford, Coatue Management and Situational Awareness Partners — a group whose appetite alone exceeds the entire volume of many recent IPOs. Bank of America and Goldman Sachs led the underwriting syndicate.

Seoul Market Sinks Even as Home-Listed Shares Rebound

The reception in Korea painted a contrasting picture. While the headline news pushed SK Hynix shares up 5.3% on Thursday to 2,186,000 won, the broader KOSPI index has fallen more than 20% from its recent record high, meeting the technical definition of a bear market. The stock itself remains 26.82% below its 52-week peak of 2,987,000 won, set on June 25.

Yet the year-to-date performance tells a different story: the stock is still up 222.9% since January, and its 14-day relative strength index of 46.3 sits squarely in neutral territory — remarkable given an annualized volatility of roughly 115% over the past 30 days. With a market capitalization of €855.89 billion, SK Hynix ranks among the world's most valuable chipmakers.

Nasdaq Debut and the Valuation Question

Trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market is set to begin on July 10, 2026, initially under the ticker SKHYV. The symbol will switch to SKHY on July 13. Analysts anticipate that the U.S. listing will trigger a revaluation of the company, which currently trades at a price-to-earnings multiple of about 5.5 — a discount to rival Micron's 6.66. Inclusion in major U.S. indexes could unlock passive inflows estimated at up to $15 billion, though the magnitude of that effect will become clearer in the weeks following the debut.

The listing arrives at a moment when the semiconductor sector is awash in both euphoria and anxiety. Micron unveiled plans to invest more than $250 billion in U.S. production by 2035, while Nvidia and AMD contend with the lingering uncertainty sparked by reports that Chinese AI firm DeepSeek is developing its own chip. For SK Hynix, the overwhelming demand for its ADRs suggests that global investors view the HBM-driven cycle as structural rather than cyclical — and are willing to look past Seoul's bearish backdrop to place their bets.