SK Hynix raises $26.5B in record foreign IPO, CEO warns memory shortage will last past 2030
The South Korean memory giant debuted on the Nasdaq on July 10, raising $26.5 billion and opening 14% above its offer price. CEO Kwak Noh-jung warned that memory supply will fall short of demand through 2030, with 2027 set to be the worst year on record.
IPO pricing and debut
SK Hynix priced its American depositary shares (ADRs) at $149 each on Thursday, raising about $26.5 billion (KRW 40 trillion) in the largest US debut by a non-American company. The offering of 177.9 million ADRs topped Alibaba's $25 billion IPO in 2014, with demand reportedly more than seven times the available shares. The stock began trading on the Nasdaq on Friday, July 10, under the temporary ticker SKHYV, opening 14% above the offer price and touching $170.94 in early afternoon trading. Regular trading starts Monday, July 13, when the ticker changes to SKHY.
- ADRs priced at $149, raising $26.5 billion
- Shares begin trading on Nasdaq under ticker SKHYV, open 14% above offer price
- Regular trading starts under permanent ticker SKHY
CEO warns of worst-ever shortage
In an interview with Reuters on the day of the listing, SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung forecast that 2027 will be the worst year in the memory industry's history from a supply perspective.
We forecast that next year will be the worst year in the industry's history from the supply perspective.
He added that customer demand keeps rising while the company's capacity has limitations, and that demand will remain higher than supply capacity even beyond 2030. The South Korean chipmaker has become a critical supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in Nvidia's AI chipsets, driving soaring orders.
Proceeds and US expansion pressure
The funds raised will go to a new fabrication plant being built in South Korea to address the AI-driven memory shortage, a new packaging facility in the country, and EUV scanners used in next-generation chip production. The same week, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said at a Micron event that he is already in talks with SK Hynix and Samsung about building new factories in the United States, signalling pressure to shift more advanced chip manufacturing away from South Korea.
Market reaction and ETF filings
Trading volume was heavy from the opening bell, with more than 52 million shares changing hands within the first 30 minutes on Nasdaq. At least 10 fund managers, including Direxion and ProShares, have filed registrations to list single-stock exchange-traded funds tracking SK Hynix soon after its US debut. The stock's strong performance defies the so-called Korea Discount, a long-running valuation gap often attributed to complex governance, low shareholder returns and geopolitical risks tied to North Korea.
