South Korea's SK Hynix — the world's second-largest chipmaker and Nvidia's primary supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips — filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise approximately $29.65 billion through an American Depositary Receipt listing on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker SKHY. The company plans to issue 17.79 million new shares and is targeting a listing date of July 10, making it one of the largest share sales in history.
The move reflects SK Hynix's push to secure what analysts call an "AI premium" — repositioning memory chips as critical AI infrastructure rather than cyclical commodities. The company supplies HBM3E chips to Nvidia and Google's Alphabet for use in AI accelerators, and recently shipped samples of its next-generation HBM4E chips on June 17. Its market capitalization has surged to roughly $1.2 trillion, overtaking Samsung Electronics to claim the top spot among South Korean listed companies. A record first-quarter operating profit of 37.6 trillion won underscores the AI-driven demand fueling its growth.
The offering is being managed by Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan. Proceeds are expected to fund the company's first Yongin chip cluster facility, a 31 trillion won project set for completion in 2027. "Once the receipts start trading, funds that hold Micron will move in right away, and the stock should reprice sharply," said analyst Kim Sun-woo of Meritz Securities, highlighting strong institutional appetite for the listing.