SK Hynix raises $26.5B in record-breaking Nasdaq IPO, shares jump 21% on first day

SK Hynix, the South Korean memory chip giant that has become one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom, made its Nasdaq debut Friday — and it was the kind of entrance Wall Street doesn’t see often.

The company priced its American Depositary Receipts at $149 each, selling 177.9 million ADRs (each representing one-tenth of a common share in Korea). By Friday morning in New York, pre-market quotes from market makers had pushed the ADR price to around $180 — roughly 21 percent above the offering price.

The ADRs began trading on a when-issued basis Friday under ticker SKHYV, and will convert to regular trading under the symbol SKHY on July 13.

At $26.5 billion raised, SK Hynix has shattered the record for the largest foreign IPO in U.S. history, surpassing Alibaba’s $25 billion listing in 2014. Globally, it’s the third-largest IPO ever, trailing only SpaceX (approximately $85.7 billion) and Saudi Aramco’s 2019 listing.

The offering was more than seven times oversubscribed. More than 500 institutional investors participated — long-only funds, tech-sector specialists, sovereign wealth funds, and large multinational asset managers. Baillie Gifford, Coatue Management, and Situational Awareness Partners each expressed interest totaling as much as $7 billion combined. Allocations for some top investors were trimmed to accommodate the demand.

Market analysts said the ADR premium reflects two dynamics: first, converting Korea-listed common shares into ADRs has structural constraints that limit arbitrage; second, investors want direct exposure to a company that now sits at the center of the AI hardware ecosystem. SK Hynix dominates the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market — the specialized DRAM that powers Nvidia’s AI accelerators and similar chips. UBS had recommended in a pre-listing note that investors buy the ADR and sell the Korean-listed stock, predicting the new securities would trade at a premium.

CEO Kwak Noh-jung rang the opening bell at Nasdaq’s MarketSite in Times Square, joined by SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and SK Square Vice Chairman Chey Jae-won.

“This is a very proud day for SK Hynix, and a historic one,” Kwak said at the ceremony. “Today, high-bandwidth memory stands at the center of the artificial intelligence revolution.”

The listing caps a remarkable run for SK Hynix’s Korean-listed shares. The stock has posted daily moves of 5 percent or more on more than 50 trading days this year alone — compared with about 37 such days in all of 2025 and roughly 44 combined across the three prior years. The common shares closed down 0.3 percent Friday, essentially flat against the broader IPO frenzy in New York.