SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won is set to attend SK hynix’s Nasdaq debut ceremony in New York this week, as the chipmaker moves to court global investors on the strength of its AI memory business.
He will be joined at the Friday morning event by SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung and other senior executives, according to industry sources on Thursday.
The event is expected to give SK hynix’s management a chance to brief investors on its AI memory business and longer-term growth plans.
Chey’s attendance comes as SK hynix tries to shed its image as a conventional memory chipmaker and highlight its place in the global AI supply chain.
In “Super Momentum,” a book published in January on SK hynix’s success in high-bandwidth memory chips, Chey said the market still viewed the company as a commodity chipmaker and had yet to fully reflect its value. He was also quoted as saying SK hynix “must grow tenfold from where it is now.”
The listing follows strong demand for the ADR offering.
Bloomberg reported Wednesday that orders for the offering exceeded the shares available by more than seven times. The order book reportedly drew global long-only funds, technology-focused funds, sovereign wealth funds and Asia-focused global investors.
The total value of orders was estimated at $171.5 billion. The bookrunners closed the order book at 4 p.m. Wednesday. The final offering price is expected to be set later Thursday.
SK hynix plans to issue up to 17.79 million new shares for the ADR listing, equivalent to about 2.5 percent of its total outstanding shares. The final offering size and proceeds will depend on the pricing and allocation results.
The deal had initially been discussed as an offering of around $29 billion at the top end. If priced in line with SK hynix’s Wednesday closing price of 2.08 million won ($1,382), the company would raise about $24.5 billion.
The lower estimate reflects a recent pullback in SK hynix shares. The stock hit a record high of 2.99 million won on June 25 before losing ground. Wednesday’s close was 30.5 percent below that peak.
Market watchers said concerns about the concentration of investor money in semiconductor stocks appeared to have weighed on the shares.
Regardless, at $24.5 billion, SK hynix’s ADR listing would rank as the second-largest US listing by a foreign company, after Alibaba Group’s $25 billion debut.
SK hynix plans to use the proceeds to fund the first fab at the Yongin semiconductor cluster, the Cheongju P&T7 advanced packaging fab and the purchase of equipment, including extreme ultraviolet lithography scanners.
The ADRs are scheduled to begin trading Friday on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker SKHYV, before moving to regular trading Monday.
Chey’s itinerary after the listing ceremony is also drawing attention. Industry sources said he may seek meetings with executives from major tech companies, including Nvidia and Tesla, during his US trip.
yeeun@heraldcorp.com