SK Hynix raises $26.5B in the biggest foreign IPO in US history, urged to build new US fabs

The AI chip boom has produced a historic moment on Wall Street. SK Hynix, a South Korean memory chip giant, said Friday it raised $26.5 billion (KRW 40 trillion) in its US initial public offering. The company sold 177.9 million American depositary shares at $149 each, roughly a tenth of the price of a full share in Seoul. This deal is the largest-ever US debut by a non-American company, surpassing Alibaba's $25 billion IPO in 2014. SK Hynix began trading on the Nasdaq on Friday, July 10, under the temporary ticker SKHYV, with regular trading starting Monday, July 13, under the ticker SKHY. Investors showed strong demand: the stock opened 14% above the IPO price and continued rising in early trading. Despite the US shares being priced at a 2.7% premium to the three-day average in Seoul, demand reportedly exceeded available shares by more than seven times. This is remarkable given the so-called "Korea Discount" – the historical tendency for Korean companies to trade at a discount due to governance concerns, regulatory uncertainty, and geopolitical risks. SK Hynix, however, is benefiting from its position as a key supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which are essential for AI GPUs, with Nvidia relying on it as a primary supplier. Proceeds from the IPO will fund a new fab in South Korea (to address AI-driven memory shortages), a packaging facility, and EUV scanners for next-generation chips. Separately, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, speaking at a Micron event Thursday, said he is already in talks with Samsung and SK Hynix about building factories in the US, aiming to reduce South Korea's dominance in chip manufacturing. Micron itself announced plans to invest $250 billion in new US manufacturing, which it says will create over 90,000 jobs. The timing is notable as both Korean chipmakers recently pledged more than $550 billion for new manufacturing investment in South Korea.