SK Hynix Prices U.S. Listing as AI Chip Demand Surges
SK Hynix is set to price its American Depositary Receipts at $149 each, raising about $26.5 billion in what ranks among the biggest U.S. stock offerings by an Asian technology company. The planned listing underscores how strongly investors are backing businesses tied to the artificial intelligence boom.
According to people familiar with the deal, demand for the share sale was more than seven times the number of shares available. That level of oversubscription points to intense market appetite for companies supplying critical hardware for AI infrastructure.
SK Hynix has become one of the most important players in that ecosystem thanks to its leadership in high-bandwidth memory, or HBM. These advanced memory chips are essential for the high-performance processors used in AI servers, large-scale data centers, and machine learning systems.
The ADRs are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker SKHY. The company had earlier pointed to a reference price of 242,500 won per ADR, based on its July 3 closing price in Seoul. Its primary listing will remain in South Korea.
The funds raised from the U.S. offering are expected to support new factories and semiconductor equipment as SK Hynix works to expand capacity for AI-related memory products. With demand for AI chips still climbing, manufacturing scale has become a major competitive advantage.
The Nasdaq debut could also help SK Hynix close part of its valuation gap with U.S.-based Micron. Even though SK Hynix holds a stronger position in the HBM market, Micron has traded at a higher forward price-to-earnings multiple, reflecting the premium often given to U.S.-listed tech firms.
Industry analysts say SK Hynix currently holds an edge because of both market share and its close ties to Nvidia, whose graphics processing units dominate AI workloads. At the same time, Micron is seen as competitive in areas such as power efficiency and its strategic position in the American market.
SK Hynix also remains locked in competition with Samsung Electronics, its domestic rival and the world’s largest memory chipmaker by output. But years of investment in HBM technology have helped SK Hynix emerge as one of the clearest winners of the current AI spending wave.
That advantage has become increasingly important as AI infrastructure buildouts continue worldwide. Experts say that as long as demand remains strong for AI accelerators and data centers, SK Hynix will remain a critical supplier to the industry.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently reinforced that view, saying SK Hynix would remain the chip designer’s largest partner. He also warned that the global memory shortage could persist for several years as AI demand continues to outpace supply.
Investor enthusiasm has already been reflected in the company’s market performance. Even after a recent pullback, SK Hynix shares have surged roughly 680% over the past year, driven by rapidly improving earnings and rising expectations for AI memory demand.
SK Hynix declined to comment on the pricing and demand details of the offering, and the people familiar with the matter spoke on condition of anonymity because the transaction remains confidential.
If trading opens strongly, the U.S. listing will mark another sign that global investors are increasingly treating memory chipmakers not as cyclical semiconductor bets, but as core suppliers to the AI economy.
