SK Hynix just pulled off something no foreign company has done before. The South Korean memory chip giant raised approximately $26.5 billion through its American Depositary Receipt offering on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, making it the largest first-time share sale by a foreign entity in US history.
The offering, priced at $149 per ADR, was more than seven times oversubscribed. A total of 177.9 million ADRs were sold, with each receipt representing one-tenth of a common share. Trading kicked off on July 10, 2026, under the ticker SKHY.
Why a Korean chip company needed a US address
SK Hynix has long suffered from the so-called “Korea discount,” a persistent valuation gap between South Korean firms and their global peers. The discount exists because investors have historically applied a penalty for the conglomerate structures, corporate governance quirks, and shareholder-unfriendly practices that characterize many Korean chaebol-linked companies.
The ADR listing is a direct play to close that gap. By making shares accessible to US institutional investors, SK Hynix is essentially saying: “Price us like you price our American competitors.” The company retains its primary listing on the Korea Exchange under KOSPI: 000660, so this isn’t an exit from Seoul. It’s an expansion of the investor base.
