SK Hynix delivered a blockbuster Wall Street debut on July 10, with its US-listed shares jumping 14% after the South Korean chipmaker raised US$26.5 billion in the second-largest US share sale on record, highlighting sustained investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence (AI)-related stocks.
Reuters reported that the strong Nasdaq debut, despite recent weakness in semiconductor shares, reinforces confidence in companies supplying the critical hardware powering the AI boom.
The world’s largest producer of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips priced its American depositary receipts at US$149 each before they opened at US$170. The offering was reportedly more than seven times oversubscribed, reflecting robust institutional demand.
The listing gives SK Hynix direct access to the world’s largest capital market while providing funding to expand manufacturing capacity as global demand for AI chips continues to accelerate.
HBM chips have become a cornerstone of AI computing, enabling graphics processors from companies such as Nvidia and AMD to handle increasingly complex workloads. The surge in AI infrastructure spending has turned memory chipmakers into some of the market’s biggest beneficiaries.
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said the company is exploring memory-as-a-service offerings to ease AI memory bottlenecks and aims to develop five gigawatts of AI data centre capacity outside South Korea, while remaining open to further investments in the United States.
Although SK Hynix shares in Seoul have retreated about 25% from their recent peak amid broader concerns over AI spending, the stock remains up roughly 630% over the past year, reflecting the sector’s extraordinary growth.
Analysts expect the US listing to help narrow SK Hynix’s valuation gap with rival Micron by broadening its investor base and improving market accessibility, even as questions persist over whether hyperscalers can sustain the massive pace of AI infrastructure investment in the years ahead.
