SK Hynix plans up to $29.4 billion U.S. listing on AI demand

SK Hynix plans to raise as much as $29.4 billion in a U.S. listing, a move that would place the South Korean chipmaker among the biggest share sales ever completed. The offering is designed to tap intense demand for artificial intelligence stocks and to give U.S. investors direct access to one of the most important suppliers in the AI hardware chain.

The company plans to issue 17.79 million new shares in an American depositary receipt offering on Nasdaq, with one ADR representing 0.1 common share. Trading was tentatively expected to begin on July 10, with subscription and payment dates listed as July 10 and July 14 in one filing. Bank of America, Citigroup Global Markets, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Securities are managing the deal.

If the sale prices at the top of the range, the listing would rank as the second-largest share sale on record, trailing only SpaceX’s recent offering. SK Hynix has set the offering value at about 45.45 trillion won, roughly $29.4 billion to $29.65 billion depending on the exchange rate used. The size of the transaction reflects how central memory chips have become to the AI boom, and how much global capital is now chasing the infrastructure behind it.

SK Hynix has also benefited from a sharp shift in market power inside South Korea. On June 22, it briefly overtook Samsung Electronics to become the country’s most valuable listed company, a striking reversal for a business that was once burdened by debt. The company’s rise has been powered by a 14-year bet on high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, the specialized chip used in AI systems from customers including Nvidia and Google.

The numbers help explain why investors are paying attention. SK Hynix reported record FY2025 revenue of 97.1467 trillion won, operating profit of 47.2063 trillion won and net profit of 42.9479 trillion won. Market-share data cited in recent reporting put SK Hynix at about 61% of global HBM revenue in 2025, compared with 21% for Micron Technology and 17% for Samsung.

The listing also underscores the company’s deepening strategic link to Nvidia. On June 8, SK Hynix and Nvidia announced a multiyear technology partnership focused on next-generation memory for the global AI factory buildout, including work on factory digital twins and autonomous fab operations. Proceeds from the U.S. sale are expected to help fund new chip factories in South Korea and additional equipment, including tools from ASML, as the AI race demands more capital and more capacity from the suppliers at its center.