- SK Hynix shares fell more than 15% in Seoul — the stock's worst day on record — just three sessions after its $26.5 billion Nasdaq ADR listing [1] - South Korea's KOSPI index dropped 9%, triggering a 20-minute trading halt by the Korea Exchange [2] - SK Hynix ADRs (SKHY) fell 9.3% on Nasdaq to $152.35, erasing most of the 12.8% gain from their July 10 debut [3] - Micron dropped 4.3%, Intel fell 6.1%, AMD declined 4.2%, and Nvidia lost 3.5% as the selloff spread across U.S. chip names
[[4]](https://financialmodelingprep.com) - A Korea Investment & Securities report projected SK Hynix's Q2 operating profit could trail consensus by 8%, citing slower-than-expected HBM price increases
[[2]](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/global-semiconductor-stocks-slide-record-104819847.html)
SK Hynix shares suffered their largest single-day decline on record on Monday, plunging more than 15% in Seoul trading just three days after the South Korean memory chipmaker completed a $26.5 billion American depositary receipt listing on the Nasdaq — the biggest U.S. share sale ever by a foreign company [1]. The crash triggered a 20-minute suspension of trading on the Korea Exchange after the benchmark KOSPI index fell 9%
.
[2]The selloff radiated outward from Seoul across every major semiconductor market. SK Hynix ADRs, trading under the permanent ticker SKHY after debuting Friday as SKHYV, dropped 9.3% to $152.35 on the Nasdaq, erasing most of their first-day pop [3]. In the U.S., Micron Technology fell 4.3% to $937, Intel dropped 6.1%, AMD slid 4.2%, and Nvidia declined 3.5%
. Equipment makers Applied Materials, Lam Research, and KLA each lost roughly 3%, while European chipmakers ASML and Infineon slipped 1-2%
[4]. [2]The rout was driven by a confluence of factors: aggressive profit-taking after SK Hynix's pre-listing rally, a bearish brokerage note on the company's near-term earnings, and fresh geopolitical tensions in the Middle East that pushed oil prices up 4.6% to nearly $75 per barrel [1] [5].
What Triggered the Selloff #
SK Hynix had entered the week on a wave of euphoria. On July 10, its ADRs opened at $170 — 14% above the $149 offering price — before closing their debut session at $168.01, a 12.8% gain [1]. The offering surpassed Alibaba's $25 billion U.S. listing in 2014 to become the largest-ever first-time share sale by a foreign company on an American exchange
.
[6]But the momentum reversed sharply on Monday. Korea Investment & Securities published a report projecting that SK Hynix's operating profit for the most recent quarter could trail analyst consensus by approximately 8% [2]. The brokerage attributed the potential shortfall to the company's heavy reliance on high-bandwidth memory (HBM), where pricing has been rising more slowly than for conventional DRAM and NAND chips
.
[2]Geopolitical headwinds compounded the pressure. Fresh escalation in Middle East tensions sent crude oil surging 4.6%, stoking concerns that elevated energy prices could reignite inflation and delay further Federal Reserve rate cuts [5].
Cascade Across Global Markets #
The damage was not confined to memory stocks. Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix's larger rival, also fell sharply in Seoul, contributing to the KOSPI's 9% decline and the resulting circuit-breaker halt [2]. In Europe, ASML, ASM International, and Besi each fell between 1% and 2%, while STMicroelectronics and Infineon posted similar losses
.
[1]In the U.S., the carnage was broad-based. Among memory and storage names, Micron fell 4.3% to $937, Western Digital dropped 6.5%, Seagate lost 5%, and SanDisk declined 7% in premarket trading [2]. AI-exposed chipmakers were not spared: Nvidia fell 3.5% to $203.53, AMD dropped 4.2% to $534.39, and Broadcom declined 4% to $384.05
. Intel, which carries a higher beta of 2.1, was the worst performer among major U.S. chip names, falling 6.1% to $103.12
[[4]](https://financialmodelingprep.com).
[[4]](https://financialmodelingprep.com)## Valuation Concerns After a Blistering Rally
The selloff arrives against the backdrop of a powerful semiconductor rally driven by AI infrastructure spending. Micron's stock has surged 228% year-to-date, while AMD has more than tripled over the past three months [4]. SK Hynix itself had climbed steeply in Seoul ahead of its Nasdaq listing, making it a prime candidate for profit-taking once U.S. shares began trading.
The scale of SK Hynix's offering — 177.9 million ADRs, with every ten corresponding to one underlying common share — also introduced substantial new supply into the market [6]. Analysts had noted that while the memory upcycle was 'tracking substantially stronger than expected,' valuations had gotten stretched
.
[1]## What's Next All eyes now turn to SK Hynix's upcoming second-quarter earnings report, which will be the first major test of whether the company's HBM-heavy revenue mix is delivering the margins investors priced in during the pre-listing run-up [2]. The Korea Investment & Securities note singled out HBM pricing as the key variable, suggesting that while volume demand from hyperscalers remains robust, per-unit economics are tightening
.
[2]Micron, which reports its own quarterly results later this month, faces similar scrutiny. The Boise-based chipmaker's $1.06 trillion market cap now prices in continued acceleration in AI-driven memory demand [4]. Any sign that HBM pricing power is softening — as the SK Hynix brokerage note suggests — would reverberate across the sector.
Companies mentioned #
Further sources #
[[1] Yahoo Finance — SK Hynix's record plunge drags down global chip stocks ↗](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/sk-hynix-record-plunge-drags-091841687.html)
[[2] Yahoo Finance — Global Semiconductor Stocks Slide as Record SK Hynix Selloff Ri… ↗](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/global-semiconductor-stocks-slide-record-104819847.html)
[[3] FMP real-time quote data for SKHY on July 13, 2026 ↗](https://financialmodelingprep.com)
[[4] FMP real-time quote data for MU, NVDA, AMD, INTC, AVGO, QCOM on July 13, 2026 ↗](https://financialmodelingprep.com)
[5] Motley Fool — Stock Market Today, July 13: SK Hynix Tumbles 15% in South Korea ↗
[6] Bloomberg — SK Hynix ADR Stock Rises After $26.5 Billion US Listing ↗ The stories that matter, in one email. Free — unsubscribe anytime.