How SK Hynix just pulled off the second-largest U.S. share sale by quietly powering the AI boom
SK Hynix has completed a major U.S. share sale on the Nasdaq, raising $26.5 billion to support its role in the AI chip market. The move aims to overcome the 'Korea Discount' and attract global investors to the high-bandwidth memory manufacturer.
Why it matters
This listing represents a significant shift in global capital markets and highlights the massive economic influence of the AI hardware supply chain.
SK Hynix, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-bandwidth memory, debuted on the Nasdaq yesterday, after raising $26.5 billion in the largest U.S. listing ever by a foreign company and the second-largest share sale in U.S. history, trailing SpaceX’s $86 billion IPO last month. Shares rose 12.8% in their first day of trading.
The listing gives U.S. investors direct access to a chipmaker that’s closely tied to the AI boom, making the specialized memory chips that sit inside almost every Nvidia processor, and now command high prices amid a major shortage.
“We’ve announced plans to double production capacity within five years, but every customer says, ‘That’s still not enough—we need more’,” SK Group Chair Chey Tae-won told CNBC on Friday, the day of the listing.
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