South Korea · Wall Street · U.S. · TechCrunch AI
SK Hynix raises $26.5 billion in the biggest foreign IPO in US history, is urged to build new US fabs
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The AI chip boom produced its biggest Wall Street moment yet.
Key facts
- The timing of Lutnick’s request is notable beyond this U.S. IPO for SK Hynix: Both Korean chipmakers pledged more than $550 billion for new manufacturing investment in South Korea
- SK Hynix sold 177.9 million American depositary shares (ADRs) at $149 each, structured so U.S. investors can buy in at roughly a tenth of what a full share costs in Seoul
- The company begins trading on the Nasdaq today, Friday, July 10, under the temporary ticker SKHYV
- Regular trading opens Monday, July 13, when the ticker officially becomes SKHY
Summary
SK Hynix sold 177.9 million American depositary shares (ADRs) at $149 each, structured so U.S. investors can buy in at roughly a tenth of what a full share costs in Seoul. The company begins trading on the Nasdaq today, Friday, July 10, under the temporary ticker SKHYV. This even as it priced its U.S. shares at a 2.7% premium to its own three-day average back home in Seoul, according to its Korea Stock Exchange filing. That’s especially amazing considering Korean companies have long traded at a discount to their global peers. But SK Hynix clearly isn’t suffering from the Korea Discount and that’s because it makes memory chips, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM).