SK Hynix is listing its American depositary receipts on the Nasdaq $NDAQ on Friday, priced at $149 each, after raising $26.51 billion in the largest share sale by a non-U.S. company on record. The figure tops the $25 billion Alibaba raised in 2014.
A filing with the Korean exchange disclosed plans to sell 177.9 million ADRs of the semiconductor company, structured so that each single common share corresponds to a bundle of 10 ADRs. Because 10 ADRs are bundled to one share, the $1,490 price tag represents an approximately 3% markup over the Seoul close of 2,180,000 won — roughly $1,450 in dollar terms. Proceeds are earmarked for capacity growth and high-end equipment acquisitions, the filing stated, singling out ASML $ASML's extreme ultraviolet lithography scanners — machines that individually carry price tags running into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Only SpaceX's $75 billion IPO last month was larger among all U.S. equity offerings, meaning the Hynix deal slots in at number two all-time, according to The Wall Street Journal. Shares trading in Seoul have surged more than 200% since January, with the rally fueled by soaring appetite for memory used in AI data centers.
Market analysts believe the Nasdaq listing positions SK Hynix to shrink the discount at which it trades relative to Micron $MU Technology and opens a path toward inclusion in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, a widely followed chip benchmark that draws significant passive investment flows.
Before its New York debut, SK Hynix gained 1.3% during Friday's Asian session. The move came amid a broad advance in South Korean equities — the Kospi rose 2.5%, with Samsung Electronics up 4.3% and LG Display posting a 4.4% gain.
U.S. semiconductor stocks were under pressure heading into Friday's regular session. Among individual names, Intel $INTC dropped over 3% ahead of the open. Micron, Marvell Technology, and Lam Research $LRCX each lost more than 2%, and Nvidia $NVDA, Broadcom $AVGO, and AMD $AMD also moved into negative territory before regular trading began.
The broader U.S. market was mixed heading into the session. Dow futures climbed 111 points heading into the session, whereas Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.2% and S&P 500 futures hovered near the unchanged mark. On a weekly basis, the Nasdaq Composite was headed for a 1.5% advance and the S&P 500 for a 0.8% rise, while the Dow remained in the red, down 0.8% for the period.
SK Hynix's stock has risen approximately 650% over the past year.