The South Korean chipmaker cut its fundraising target from $29 billion after a recent decline in its stock price
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SK Hynix launched the formal marketing process for its U.S. listing on Monday, seeking to raise $28.21 billion, or 43.14 trillion won, through American depositary receipts on the Nasdaq $NDAQ — a target the company revised down after its stock fell in recent weeks.
Each ADR will represent a tenth of a common share, with 17.79 million new shares being issued in total. The final price is expected to be set Thursday, with trading set to begin Friday, the company said. At the revised size, the deal would rank among the largest share sales in history, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The company said cornerstone investors — including Baillie Gifford Overseas, Coatue Management-managed funds, and Situational Awareness Partners — have collectively expressed interest in purchasing as much as $7 billion of the ADRs. Company management will meet global investors on a roadshow this week.
Funds raised through the offering are earmarked for expanding South Korean manufacturing facilities and acquiring equipment such as ASML $ASML's extreme ultraviolet lithography scanners, the Dutch semiconductor tools specialist. BofA Securities, Citigroup $C, Goldman Sachs $GS, and J.P. Morgan are serving as global coordinators, joined by nine other financial institutions participating in the transaction. Once trading begins, the ADRs will appear on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol SKHY.
Despite a strong year-to-date rally of roughly 260%, SK Hynix shares slipped 3.4% in Monday's Seoul session to close at 2,343,000 won. Using SK Hynix's Seoul close on July 3 as its benchmark, the regulatory filing established a reference price of 242,500 won for each ADR, according to Reuters.
The chipmaker filed with the SEC in late June to raise approximately $29.65 billion through the ADR listing, at a per-share price of 2.555 million won. The revised target of 2.425 million won per share reflects a decline in the stock since that filing. SK Hynix said at the time that it expected the listing to broaden its investor base and allow it to be valued alongside U.S. peers on the Nasdaq.
Beyond the capital raise, analysts see a U.S. listing as a potential catalyst for a re-rating: membership in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index — which passive funds globally use as a benchmark — could follow, while the valuation discount relative to Micron $MU Technology might also shrink, according to the Journal. Counterpoint Research data cited by Bloomberg put SK Hynix's share of global high-bandwidth memory revenue at 57% for the final quarter of 2025.
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