According to regulatory documents, South Korea’s SK Hynix is moving forward with plans to launch a listing in the United States valued at approximately $28 billion. The depository receipt offering, scheduled for Monday on Nasdaq, ranks as one of the world’s most significant new equity deals.
In this sale, 17.79 million new shares will be made available, with ten American Depository Receipts (ADRs) equating to one standard share. Final pricing, tied to SK Hynix’s performance on the Seoul exchange, is set to be disclosed Monday.
SK Hynix has seen significant gains from the current AI-driven investment environment, outpacing competitors like Samsung Electronics and Micron in stock performance this year. As a major provider of high-bandwidth memory chips integral to AI applications used by firms such as Nvidia and Google, the company benefits from heightened industry demand.
The final listing price will be set Thursday before the stock begins trading on Friday. This transaction is expected to become the second-largest share sale globally, following SpaceX’s record-setting $85.7 billion IPO in June.
Last week, SK Hynix committed to an investment of 100 trillion won (about $64.4 billion) for new chip manufacturing facilities in South Korea, including NAND flash memory plants, as part of a broader national initiative to strengthen AI sector returns.
On the other hand, its rival Samsung Electronics is projected to report a substantial increase in operating profit for the second quarter, with analyst estimates forecasting an approximately 18-fold year-on-year rise to 86 trillion won ($56.35 billion).
The expected profit surge marks a third consecutive quarter of record earnings for the world’s top memory chip producer, buoyed by lasting memory supply shortages and escalating demand from AI applications.
Both high-bandwidth memory and conventional DRAM and NAND products have experienced price increases, with DRAM and NAND prices rising 44% and 53% quarter-over-quarter, respectively, according to Citi Research.
Samsung, alongside SK Hynix and Micron, has seen its share price more than double this year, with all three memory chipmakers reaching market capitalizations above $1 trillion.
Meanwhile, as of 10:05 AM Bangkok time on Monday, South Korea’s Kospi index declined by approximately 3%, trading at 7,844.34.
