SK hynix’s Nasdaq listing raised US$26.5 billion, making it one of the largest stock sales in history.
Semiconductor and memory chip company SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-Jung gestures as he attends the company's opening bell ceremony at the Nasdaq market on the day of their IPO in New York City, US, Jul 10, 2026. (Photo: REUTERS/Angelina Katsanis)
11 Jul 2026 04:58AM
NEW YORK: South Korean chip giant SK hynix soared 13 per cent on its first day of trading on Wall Street on Friday (Jul 10), capping one of the world's biggest ever stock sales as it takes advantage of the AI boom.The Asian semiconductor giant's American depositary shares (ADSs) ended its first session at US$168 after being priced at US$149, with the listing on the tech-heavy Nasdaq index raising US$26.5 billion.SK hynix, a major supplier of advanced memory chips to industry behemoth Nvidia, has seen profits skyrocket thanks to the global race to build artificial intelligence data centres.Tech stocks have tumbled in recent weeks on fears of overheated valuations - although SK hynix has soared more than 220 per cent this year in Seoul - and questions about when enormous global AI spending will reap returns.But the Nasdaq listing enjoyed considerable interest, and was more than seven times oversubscribed, according to US media.The amount raised did not come close to the record US$75 billion raised in SpaceX's IPO last month, which made founder Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire.But it beat out Saudi Aramco's 2019 US$25.6 billion debut in the Gulf, and the US$21.8 billion raised by Chinese tech firm Alibaba in its New York initial public offering.SK hynix listed through ADSs, which allow slices of foreign companies to be traded on US public markets.
