SK Hynix Shares Rise Ahead of U.S. Stock Listing Amid Strong Demand for $28 Billion Offering

Shares of SK Hynix Inc. surged 7.1% in Asian trading on Thursday, significantly outperforming the broader KOSPI index. The rebound followed two sessions of losses and came as the company neared the pricing of its major U.S. stock market listing, with investor sentiment appearing to improve despite a recent global selloff in semiconductor stocks.

The South Korean memory chip manufacturer is offering 17.79 million new shares through American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), which represents approximately 2.5% of its outstanding equity. The offering is expected to be one of the largest ever in the United States by a foreign company. The final offer price is anticipated to be announced after South Korean markets close on Thursday, with the ADRs scheduled to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on Friday.

According to multiple media reports, demand for the offering has been robust, with the deal being oversubscribed several times. Institutional investors have reportedly placed orders far exceeding the number of shares available. Reuters reported that several U.S. investors submitted individual orders ranging from $200 million to over $1 billion, signaling continued appetite for the AI memory chip supplier.

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Several prominent investment firms have also shown interest in the offering. Baillie Gifford, along with funds managed by Coatue Management and Situational Awareness Partners, have separately indicated they could purchase a combined total of up to $7 billion of the ADRs. SK Hynix plans to use the proceeds from the offering to expand its manufacturing capacity to meet accelerating demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which are critical components in servers used for artificial intelligence.