SK Hynix’s American Depositary Receipts have fallen below their $149 listing price for the first time, erasing the entirety of their debut rally in less than a week of trading. The South Korean memory chip giant, which raised roughly $26.5 billion in what became the biggest US listing by a foreign company in history, is now giving investors a crash course in how quickly AI enthusiasm can evaporate.
The ADRs, which began trading on Nasdaq on July 9 at a reference price of $149, initially looked like a blockbuster. Opening around $170, they surged about 14% before settling near $168 at the close of the first session. By July 13, all of that was gone.
From record demand to record selloff
SK Hynix’s offering was oversubscribed more than seven times over, suggesting massive institutional appetite for exposure to one of the world’s most critical AI chip suppliers. The $26.5 billion raise was second only to SpaceX among all US listings.
During one particularly brutal session, SK Hynix ADRs dropped as much as 9.3%, caught in the crossfire of a broader selloff hammering South Korean equities. Profit-taking was the immediate culprit, alongside growing skepticism about whether the sector’s earnings can justify the multiples investors have been paying.
