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SK Hynix opens Nasdaq ADR trading at $158.14, raising $28 billion in the largest-ever US equity debut by a foreign company

· by Pondero Newsdesk

The short version

SK Hynix began when-issued ADS trading on Nasdaq on July 10 at $158.14 per share, completing a $28.1 billion offering that eclipses Alibaba's 2014 US equity record. All proceeds target high-bandwidth memory production for AI data centers.

SK Hynix opens Nasdaq ADR trading at $158.14, raising $28 billion in the largest-ever US equity debut by a foreign company

SK Hynix began when-issued ADS trading on Nasdaq on July 10 under the ticker SKHYV at $158.14 per share, completing a $28.1 billion offering that sets a record as the largest-ever US equity debut by a foreign company. The chipmaker supplies the high-bandwidth memory inside the Nvidia GPUs that run today's AI data centers.

What happened

The South Korean memory chipmaker priced 177.9 million American depositary shares at $158.14 each, per Stock Analysis, generating a deal size of approximately $28.1 billion. Each ADS represents one-tenth of a common share trading in South Korea. Per Proactive Investors, when-issued trading began July 10 under the ticker SKHYV, with regular SKHY trading scheduled to open July 13.

The offer was oversubscribed by more than seven times, per Proactive Investors. FX Leaders described the listing as one of the largest share sales in history and one of the biggest US equity offerings ever by a foreign company. SK Hynix's Korean-listed shares had already gained approximately 223% in 2026 ahead of the debut.

SK Hynix raised the capital to fund expanded fabrication capacity, advanced packaging lines, and next-generation HBM production equipment. No portion of the proceeds is targeted at existing shareholders; the full raise goes toward new manufacturing.

Why it matters

SK Hynix is the dominant supplier of high-bandwidth memory for Nvidia's H100 and H200 accelerators. HBM sits directly next to the GPU die and sets the ceiling on how fast an AI model can move data. Supply has been tighter than demand across 2025 and into 2026, which constrained the number of high-end AI servers that could be built and shipped.

A $28 billion capital injection directed at HBM production is the largest single commitment to easing that constraint that the industry has seen. If SK Hynix executes on capacity expansion, the pressure on H100/H200 lead times could ease in late 2026 or early 2027. For AI developers and cloud buyers waiting on GPU allocations, that is the operative signal here.

A Nasdaq listing also narrows the gap between SK Hynix and Micron in terms of US investor access. Micron's easier access to American capital markets has historically let it trade at a higher earnings multiple than SK Hynix despite SK Hynix's stronger HBM position, per FX Leaders. Direct US ADS trading changes that dynamic.

Context

SK Hynix's South Korean listing (KRX: 000660) had already made it one of the largest companies by market cap in Asia before this offering. The US listing gives American institutional and retail investors a direct path to the stock without routing through Korean exchange infrastructure.

Jim Cramer described the shares as "remarkably cheap" relative to their growth trajectory, per FX Leaders, while also noting that memory chips have historically been a boom-and-bust business. When supply catches up with demand, pricing power can erode fast. That tension is the central risk that will follow SKHY through its first trading weeks.

What to watch next

The key near-term signals are how SKHY trades when regular sessions open July 13, and whether SK Hynix provides any production milestone guidance in its first US-listed earnings call. On the supply side, watch whether HBM3e and HBM4 capacity announcements from Samsung or Micron shift the competitive picture before SK Hynix's new fabs come online.

Sources