SK Hynix Plans $14 Billion US IPO to Fund Capacity Doubling as Nvidia Deal Expands Beyond HBM

SK Hynix files confidentially for $14B US IPO, deepens Nvidia tie-up for AI memory, plans massive capacity expansion as Q1 revenue surges 198%.

SK Hynix is mapping out an ambitious future that pairs a multibillion-dollar American stock market debut with a sweeping overhaul of its manufacturing footprint. The South Korean memory giant has filed confidentially with the SEC for a US listing of American Depositary Receipts, targeting the second half of 2026. The offering could raise as much as $14 billion from a free float of roughly 2–3% of outstanding shares, with proceeds earmarked for a major capacity expansion that includes a new packaging plant in Indiana.

The fundraising push comes as SK Hynix deepens its relationship with Nvidia far beyond the role of high-bandwidth memory supplier. A multiyear technology partnership signed on June 8, 2026, commits the two companies to joint development of next-generation memory chips tailored for Nvidia’s Vera CPU platform, Vera Rubin AI supercomputers, RTX Spark PCs, and Jetson Thor robotics systems. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang described the year ahead as “very large” and promised a “very, very strong second half,” adding that SK Hynix will remain Nvidia’s largest memory partner.

The collaboration extends into the factory floor. SK Hynix is integrating Nvidia’s CUDA-X libraries and PhysicsNeMo tools directly into its chip design workflow, with the goal of building fully autonomous production lines. Digital twins of its fabrication plants, powered by Nvidia’s Omniverse platform, will allow the company to simulate and optimize processes before they run in the real world.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won has laid out a plan to double wafer production within five years, anticipating a structural memory shortage by 2030. New capacity is being built at Cheongju, the Yongin semiconductor cluster, and the US packaging facility. Capital expenditure for 2026 is set to far exceed last year’s 30.2 trillion won, underscoring the scale of the bet.

The financial results justify the aggressive spending. In the first quarter of 2026, SK Hynix reported revenue of 53 trillion won, up 198% year-on-year. Net income surged 398% to 40 trillion won, yielding a net profit margin of 77%. Earnings per share beat analyst consensus by 52%. The stock has responded in kind, rallying more than 215% year-to-date.

But the ride has been volatile. After touching an all-time high of 2,407,000 KRW in early June, the shares retreated sharply and closed at around 1,911,000 KRW — a drop of roughly 20% from the peak. The weekly loss alone reached 19%, as the stock consolidated following its breathtaking run. The annualized volatility stands at 90%, a reminder that the sector’s swings remain extreme.

Looking ahead, SK Hynix expects the favorable pricing environment for HBM chips to persist well into next year. From 2027, demand for LPDDR memory — particularly for Nvidia’s Vera Rubin platform — could tighten overall market supply. With its deeper integration into Nvidia’s ecosystem and a $14 billion cash injection from US investors, SK Hynix is positioning itself to ride the structural demand wave rather than simply supply it.