SK Hynix lands largest‑ever US float by a foreign firm

(Sharecast News) - Chipmaker SK Hynix has raised $26.5bn in its New York share offering, marking the largest US listing by a foreign company, as the South Korean firm capitalises on surging demand for artificial‑intelligence hardware.

The Nvidia supplier said it sold 177.9m American depositary shares at $149 each, with each ADS representing one‑tenth of a Seoul‑listed common share. Trading was expected to begin on Friday.

The offering follows a sharp rally in SK Hynix's domestic stock, which has more than tripled this year and helped lift South Korea's Kospi index by over 70%. SK Hynix's market value topped $1trn in May amid booming demand for high‑bandwidth memory chips used in AI systems.

SK Hynix's US listing gives it access to deeper pools of capital and fewer investment barriers than in South Korea. Demand for the offering was reportedly more than seven times the shares available, underscoring strong appetite for companies central to the AI supply chain. The listing also provides US investors with a direct route into SK Hynix without trading overseas.

SK Hynix has also pledged major investment in South Korea's semiconductor and AI infrastructure, alongside government plans for more than $880bn of sector investment with SK Hynix and Samsung.

As of 0935 BST, SK Hynix was down 0.27% on South Korea's KOPSI at KRW 2,180,000 per share.









Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com