Semiconductor and memory chip company SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-Jung attends the company's opening bell ceremony at the Nasdaq market on the day of their IPO in New York City, U.S., July 10. Reuters-Yonhap
NEW YORK — Shares of South Korean memory chipmaker SK hynix rose 12.8 percent as they made their debut on Wall Street, at a time when demand for chips is surging thanks to the frenzy around artificial intelligence.
The company is already one of the largest in South Korea, along with Samsung Electronics, and is a member of the Kospi index. Even with a recent pullback, the country's Kospi index is up 77 percent so far this year and SK hynix shares have more than tripled.
SK hynix priced its American depositary receipts, or ADRs, at $149 each Thursday. They opened Friday at $170 and closed at $168.01. The offering of 177.9 million ADRs raised proceeds of $26.5 billion, making it the biggest-ever initial share sale in the U.S. by a foreign company. An ADR is issued by a bank or broker and is a simplified way for U.S. investors to own foreign stocks through the U.S. markets.
SK hynix is going public in the U.S. amid a surge in IPO proceeds. There were 48 IPOs raising a total of $104.8 billion during the second quarter, according to Renaissance Capital. It is the biggest quarter for deal proceeds in five years, in large part because of SpaceX raising $75 billion. Many of the companies going public are capitalizing on the demand for all things AI.
