SK Hynix Just Went Public In America

SK Hynix (NASDAQ: SKHYV, later SKHY) made its long-awaited U.S. trading debut on Friday, July 10, 2026, after pricing its American depositary receipts at $149 each and raising approximately $26.5 billion, in what is one of the largest share sales in U.S. market history second only to SpaceX's record IPO last month, and set to surpass Alibaba's 2014 debut as the largest ADR listing ever. The offering was more than seven times oversubscribed, with underwriting led by Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan. Ten ADRs are equivalent to one common share. The Icheon, South Korea-based chipmaker is the world's biggest producer of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) the ultra-fast memory bolted directly onto AI accelerators from Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and AMD (NASDAQ: AMD), and one of the most scarce and profitable products in the AI supply chain. SK Hynix's Seoul-listed shares are up roughly 630% over the past year, though they have pulled back about 25% from record highs hit two weeks ago as chip stocks broadly cooled on concerns about the pace of AI capital spending. The company will use proceeds to build new factories and buy chipmaking equipment, including extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography scanners from ASML. Analysts say the U.S. listing should help narrow SK Hynix's persistent valuation discount to U.S. rival Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) SK Hynix trades at around 5.8 times forward earnings versus Micron's roughly 7 times, per LSEG data, despite HBM leadership. Micron is up about 711% over the past 12 months. The broader test: whether U.S. investor appetite for the AI trade holds up. Chip stocks were weak in premarket trading Friday, with Micron, Marvell Technology, and Lam Research each down about 1% and Intel off 2%. Jefferies analyst Christopher Wood argues the memory rally still has room to run, noting the three dominant memory makers Micron, SK Hynix, and Samsung are up 760% since the start of 2023, versus 180% for the four largest hyperscalers, and that "so long as the AI capex arms race continues the beneficiaries will remain the picks and shovels trade." Global cloud and AI infrastructure capex is projected to approach $1.5 trillion by 2027, a 40-50% year-over-year jump, according to BofA Securities. Content contains video from @skhynix #SKHynix #AIchips #Nasdaq 🌐 Find more market-moving insights at https://www.benzinga.com — your one-stop destination for the latest financial news, data, and expert analysis to stay ahead of the markets. 🖥️ Want the same tools the pros use—without the $10K Bloomberg terminal? Benzinga Edge gives you real-time portfolio alerts, weekly stock picks, and pro-grade research in one command center. 👉 https://bit.ly/4unSKiB ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 📲 Follow us on socials @benzinga 🔔 Subscribe To The Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Benzinga ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ⚠️ Disclaimer: Investing in financial markets carries risk, and there are no guaranteed returns. All information is for educational purposes only and should not be taken as financial advice. Always do your own research and speak with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. Only invest what you can afford to lose. Past performance does not guarantee future outcomes.