The AI chip boom just produced its biggest Wall Street moment yet. SK Hynix, a South Korean memory chip giant, said Friday it has raised $26.5 billion (KRW 40 trillion) in its US market debut.
SK Hynix sold 177.9 million American depositary shares (ADRs) at $149 each, structured so US investors can buy in at roughly a tenth of what a full share costs in Seoul. This deal, the largest-ever US debut by a non-American company, topped Alibaba’s $25 billion IPO in 2014.
SK Hynix begins trading on the Nasdaq today, Friday, July 10th, under the temporary ticker SKHYV. Regular trading opens Monday, July 13th, when the ticker officially becomes SKHY. So far, US investors are lapping it up. The stock opened at 14% over its IPO price, and the price was still rising in early trading on Friday.
This even as it priced its US shares at a 2.7% premium to its own three-day average back home in Seoul, according to its Korea Stock Exchange filing. Yet, demand for the offering was reportedly more than seven times the available shares, per media reports.
That’s especially amazing considering Korean companies have long traded at a discount to their global peers. That valuation gap is called the Korea Discount. Investors often cite factors such as complex corporate governance structures, low shareholder returns, regulatory uncertainty, and geopolitical risks related to North Korea to justify why companies from that country don’t command higher share prices.
