SK Hynix Gains Nearly 13% in Nasdaq Debut After Record $26.5 Billion Foreign IPO

SK Hynix Inc. made a strong debut on the Nasdaq Friday, with its shares closing nearly 13% above their offer price after the South Korean memory chipmaker raised $26.5 billion in the largest-ever U.S. initial public offering by a foreign company. The successful listing underscores sustained investor demand for key players in the artificial intelligence supply chain.

A Blockbuster Listing

SK Hynix's American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), trading under the ticker SKHYV, were priced at $149 each. The shares closed the trading day at $168.01, a gain of 12.8%.

The offering was the second-largest U.S. share sale on record, surpassed only by SpaceX's IPO last month, according to the source report. Investor interest was robust, with reports indicating the listing was more than seven times oversubscribed. David Morrison, Senior Market Analyst at Trade Nation, noted before the debut that SK Hynix has become "one of the biggest beneficiaries of the global memory chip shortage and growing demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure."

AI Demand and Supply Outlook

The IPO comes as the broader semiconductor sector has seen some recent cooling after a prolonged rally. Despite this, SK Hynix's Seoul-listed shares remain up approximately 650% over the past year, fueled by its critical role in producing high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips essential for AI servers.

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Underscoring the intense demand, SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung warned of an impending supply crunch. In an interview with Reuters on Friday, Kwak said the global memory market is on track for its "most severe supply shortage in 2027," forecasting that customer demand would outpace the company's production capacity well beyond 2030.

Strategic Capital and Market Impact

SK Hynix plans to use the proceeds from the IPO to expand its production capacity, including the purchase of additional extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment, according to regulatory filings. The listing provides the company with direct access to the deep capital pools of the U.S. market.

The successful offering may encourage other major Asian technology firms to pursue U.S. listings. It has also spurred immediate interest from fund managers, with at least 10 firms filing to launch single-stock ETFs that will track SK Hynix, according to the filings.