SK Hynix raises $26.5 billion in largest-ever US listing by a foreign company, pricing ADRs at $149 each

The deal

South Korea's SK Hynix priced its American Depositary Receipts at $149 each on Thursday 9 July, raising about $26.5 billion, a US regulatory filing showed. The offering comprised 177.9 million ADRs, equivalent to 18 million ordinary shares. The ADRs begin trading on Friday 10 July on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol 'SKHY'. The pricing was set at a 2.7% premium over the company's average share price over the previous three trading days in Seoul.

The sale is the largest-ever US listing by a foreign company, surpassing the $25 billion debut of Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba in 2014. Globally, it ranks as the second-largest listing after SpaceX's $85.7 billion Nasdaq debut in June 2026.

Investor demand and market reaction

Demand exceeded even the most optimistic expectations. The offering was more than seven times oversubscribed, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg and others, implying roughly $171 billion in total orders for a deal initially sized in the $24-28 billion range. That appetite arrived during a turbulent stretch for chip stocks. SK Hynix's Seoul-listed shares had fallen roughly one quarter over the previous fortnight, and the broader semiconductor sector was actively selling off.

Seven times oversubscribed, about $171bn in orders for a $24-28bn deal, and this happened while the semiconductor sector was actively selling off and the Kospi was in a circuit breaker week.

SK Hynix's Seoul shares have still risen 229% since the start of the year, and the benchmark Kospi index has gained more than 70% over the same period. On Friday, the Seoul-listed shares were up about 0.8% as of 06:30 GMT.

Competitive landscape and valuation

A central rationale for the US listing is narrowing the valuation gap with American rival Micron Technology. Micron trades at a 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratio of 6.66 times, while SK Hynix trades at 5.5 times. The Financial Times reported that both SK Hynix and crosstown rival Samsung Electronics are on a multiple of four times forecast 2028 earnings, the year analysts generally expect AI-driven revenue to peak, compared with Micron's six times.

SK Hynix leads on share and Nvidia proximity, Micron competes on power efficiency, US positioning, and momentum from third place.

Samsung remains the world's largest memory chipmaker by volume, but SK Hynix has become the leading supplier of high-bandwidth memory chips, a critical component for Nvidia's advanced AI processors. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said last month that SK Hynix would continue to be the US company's largest supplier.

AI-fuelled growth and scale

SK Hynix's fortunes rest on high-bandwidth memory, the culmination of 14 years of bets that have placed the company at the centre of the global AI rush. Net income reached 40.34 trillion won ($26.6 billion) in the first quarter of 2026. In May, the company joined the club of trillion-dollar companies alongside Samsung and Micron.

SK Hynix and Samsung together account for just over half of South Korea's total market capitalisation. Both companies signed on to a $1 trillion AI investment initiative announced by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in late June, pledging $518 billion with suppliers to build two chipmaking facilities.

As long as there is demand for graphic processors and AI data centers, SK Hynix is indispensable.

Proceeds and products

The funds raised will finance new factories and equipment to meet surging AI chip demand. Separately, the ADR debut is already spawning a wave of leveraged exchange-traded funds. ProShares, Leverage Shares, and Rex Shares are among issuers preparing products tied to the newly listed ADRs, Bloomberg reported.