- SK Hynix priced 177.9 million American depositary shares at $149, raising $26.5 billion — the largest US IPO by a foreign company, surpassing Alibaba's 2014 listing [1] - Shares closed at $168.01, a 13% first-day gain, giving the company a market cap exceeding $1.19 trillion [2] - The offering was over seven times oversubscribed, with cornerstone investors Baillie Gifford, Coatue, and Situational Awareness Partners committing up to $7 billion [3] - Proceeds will fund expansion including a $4 billion advanced packaging plant in West Lafayette, Indiana, and new facilities in South Korea [4] - SK Hynix controls more than 50% of the global high-bandwidth memory market, the critical component powering Nvidia's AI accelerators
[1] SK Hynix began trading on Nasdaq on Thursday under the ticker SKHY, raising $26.5 billion in the largest-ever US initial public offering by a foreign company. The South Korean chipmaker priced 177.9 million American depositary shares at $149 each, surpassing Alibaba's $25 billion New York listing in 2014 [1]. The stock closed at $168.01, a 13% gain that pushed the company's market capitalization past $1.19 trillion
.
[2]The offering was more than seven times oversubscribed, reflecting intense institutional appetite for direct US-listed exposure to the AI memory chip supply chain [3]. Three cornerstone investors — Baillie Gifford Overseas Limited, Coatue Management, and Situational Awareness Partners — indicated interest in purchasing up to $7 billion of shares at the offering price, roughly 25% of the deal
.
[3]SK Hynix, already publicly traded on South Korea's KOSPI exchange, is the dominant global supplier of high-bandwidth memory, or HBM — the specialized component that enables AI processors to handle massive datasets simultaneously. The company controls more than half the worldwide HBM market and is a critical supplier to Nvidia, whose chips underpin the global AI infrastructure buildout [1].
Chairman Chey Tae-won told CNBC the listing was "a kind of dream, and now it's a dream come true," adding that customer demand far outstrips current production capacity. "All my customers said that, 'Well, that's not enough, man, and, well, we need more,'" Chey said [1].
The Offering #
BofA Securities, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and J.P. Morgan served as global lead coordinators for the transaction [3]. Each ADS represents one-tenth of an ordinary SK Hynix share already trading on the Korea Exchange under ticker 000660
.
[3]The $26.5 billion raise makes SK Hynix's Nasdaq debut the second-largest US listing in history, behind only SpaceX's June 2026 offering [4]. The deal eclipses the previous record for a foreign company set by Alibaba twelve years ago. SK Hynix plans to use the proceeds to fund an aggressive capacity expansion across multiple facilities in South Korea and the United States
.
[4]## The Business SK Hynix reported approximately $65 billion in revenue and $28 billion in net profit for fiscal year 2025, with earnings roughly doubling year-over-year on surging memory chip demand and elevated pricing [5]. US customers accounted for 68.8% of the company's 2025 revenue
.
[5]The company is one of three primary manufacturers of computer memory — alongside Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology — but has carved out a commanding lead in HBM, the high-performance memory stacked inside Nvidia's H100, H200, and Blackwell GPU chips [4]. That position has made SK Hynix an essential node in the AI supply chain, effectively the fuel system for the AI accelerator market dominated by Nvidia, which currently carries a $5.1 trillion market cap
.
[2]Competitor Micron, which also trades on Nasdaq, closed at $979.30 on Thursday with a market cap of $1.1 trillion, making the two HBM rivals roughly comparable in US market valuation [2].
Expansion Plans #
The IPO proceeds are earmarked for a major buildout of SK Hynix's manufacturing footprint. In the United States, the company is constructing a $4 billion advanced packaging plant in West Lafayette, Indiana, scheduled for completion in 2028 [4]. Advanced packaging is a critical step in producing HBM chips, which require multiple memory layers to be stacked and connected with precision.
In South Korea, SK Hynix is building a new fabrication hub in Yongin and an advanced packaging facility in Cheongju, both aimed at addressing AI demand that currently outpaces production capacity [4]. The parent company, SK Group, acquired the chipmaker in 2012 through its investment arm SK Square
.
[5]## Why It Matters The listing gives US investors direct access to a company that previously traded only in Seoul, where it was South Korea's second-most valuable firm. SK Hynix has historically traded at a discount to comparable US semiconductor companies; the Nasdaq listing is expected to help close that valuation gap and position the stock for potential inclusion in major US indices [4].
The debut also underscores the centrality of memory chips to the AI boom. While Nvidia designs the processors, SK Hynix supplies the memory that determines how much data those processors can handle — a bottleneck that has made HBM allocation one of the most contested resources in the semiconductor industry [1].
For the broader IPO market, the offering signals robust appetite for large-scale semiconductor listings. The deal's seven-times oversubscription and 13% first-day pop suggest institutional investors remain eager to deploy capital into AI infrastructure plays, even at trillion-dollar valuations [2] [3].
What's Next #
SK Hynix shares will transition from the temporary ticker SKHYV to the permanent ticker SKHY when regular-way trading begins on Tuesday, July 13 [2]. The stock will be closely watched for potential index inclusion, which would trigger additional passive fund inflows.
The competitive landscape bears monitoring. Samsung Electronics is investing aggressively in its own HBM development, and Micron has advanced its HBM roadmap to challenge SK Hynix's market share lead [4]. Nvidia's potential diversification of its memory suppliers remains a key risk for the company's dominant position
.
[4]## Companies mentioned
Further sources #
[[1] SK Hynix rises 13% in Nasdaq debut. Chairman tells CNBC 'demand is enormous' ↗](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/10/sk-hynix-skhy-stock-nasdaq.html)
[[2] FMP stock quote and company profile data for SKHYV (SK Hynix Inc.) on Nasdaq ↗](https://financialmodelingprep.com)
[[3] The IPO Buzz: SK Hynix (SKHY) Launches $28.13B U.S. Offering – NASDAQ Uplisting ↗](https://www.iposcoop.com/the-ipo-buzz-sk-hynix-skhy-launches-28-13b-u-s-offering-nasdaq-uplisting/)
[[4] SK Hynix Just Listed on Nasdaq Today. Here's Why This Chip IPO Is Different Fro… ↗](https://moneymorning.com/2026/07/10/sk-hynix-skhy-nasdaq-ipo-ai-memory-chips-july-2026)
[[5] SK Hynix IPO: Everything You Need to Know ↗](https://www.investing.com/analysis/sk-hynix-ipo-everything-you-need-to-know-about-sk-hynix-200683722)
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