SK hynix sets foreign U.S. IPO record as $26.5 billion debut sharpens debate over AI chip boom

SK hynix has successfully raised approximately $26.5 billion through its U.S. listing — the largest U.S. IPO ever conducted by a foreign company. Yet even as the milestone was celebrated, analysts remain divided over how long the artificial intelligence investment supercycle will last, with price targets from brokerages spanning more than a two-to-one range.

The Korean chipmaker confirmed on July 10 that it had priced its American depositary receipt (ADR) offering at $149 per share, roughly 3 percent above the previous session's closing price. The company issued a total of 177.9 million shares, raising $26.5 billion in gross proceeds. The deal surpasses Alibaba's $25 billion listing in 2014 to become the largest U.S. IPO by a foreign issuer in history, and the second-largest U.S. IPO of any kind, trailing only SpaceX.

Conditional trading began Friday on the Nasdaq under the ticker "SKHYV," with regular trading set to commence Monday under "SKHY." Proceeds are expected to flow to the company upon completion of the offering on Tuesday.

New shares issued represent approximately 2.5 percent of total outstanding stock. SK hynix plans to deploy the capital toward construction of the first fabrication facility at its Yongin semiconductor cluster in Gyeonggi, the Cheongju P&T7 advanced packaging plant and broader capacity expansions. The company has earmarked 11.9 trillion won ($7.9 billion) specifically for extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment procurement through end of next year.

The investments are designed to bolster high bandwidth memory (HBM) production capacity and advanced packaging competitiveness as demand from AI data centers continues to accelerate. Market research firm Counterpoint Research projects average operating margins of 75—80 percent for the three major memory players — Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and Micron — in the second quarter of this year, with the memory upcycle expected to extend at least through 2027.

Competitors are moving quickly as well. Micron recently announced an approximately $14 trillion won investment in new-generation HBM production facilities in Hiroshima, Japan, while Samsung is also scaling up its HBM and advanced packaging capabilities, setting the stage for an intensifying battle for AI memory leadership.

Still, the ADR debut has done little to resolve a wide disparity in how analysts value the company.

BNK Investment & Securities maintained a "Hold" rating with a target price of 1.85 million won — roughly 11 percent below the Wednesday closing price of 2.076 million won. Analyst Lee Min-hee argued that while supply remains tight for AI server DRAM and enterprise SSDs, the hyperscaler-driven competitive build out that fueled the boom may be losing steam. She noted that consensus currently prices in roughly 23 percent growth in U.S. cloud service provider capital expenditure next year, but that sustaining current earnings forecasts would require at least 30—40 percent growth once memory and CPU price inflation and agentic AI adoption are factored in.

The majority of brokerages, however, maintained bullish outlooks. KB Securities held its "Buy" rating and 4.2 million won target price on Thursday, declaring that "the summit is still far off," and citing the ADR listing as a catalyst that will broaden global investor access and prompt a simultaneous rerating of both the U.S. ADR and the domestic Korean shares. NH Investment Securities set a target of 4.1 million won, IBK Investment & Securities and Kyobo Securities each set targets of 4.0 million won and Daishin Securities set 3.9 million won, with all four maintaining buy recommendations, citing SK hynix's supply advantage in HBM and growing AI memory demand.

On the geopolitical front, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick publicly called out both Samsung Electronics and SK hynix by name, pressing them to build memory semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the United States. The remarks came just days after the two companies unveiled investment plans totaling over 800 trillion won in Korea's Honam region, and were widely interpreted as Washington openly demanding a supply chain realignment centered on American soil.

Bloomberg reported that Lutnick made the comments at a Micron fab construction site in New York state, saying he wanted to "bring Samsung and SK hynix to the U.S. to build memory fabs." Micron separately announced an expansion of its planned U.S. investment commitment from $200 billion to $250 billion through 2035.

On the domestic market, the Kospi closed up 2.52 percent at 7,475.94 on Friday. Samsung Electronics and SK Square gained 2.52 percent and 6.18 percent respectively, while SK hynix edged down 0.27 percent to close at 2.18 million won. Foreign investors were net buyers of Samsung Electronics to the tune of 193.7 billion won, while SK hynix saw the heaviest foreign net selling of the session at 1.7181 trillion won.

BY PARK YU-MI, PARK YOUNG-WOO AND KIM SU-MIN [[email protected]]