SK Hynix shares slide after record $26.5 billion Nasdaq debut

SK Hynix shares fell as much as 8.2% in early Seoul trading on Monday, July 13, after a Nasdaq debut that briefly sent the South Korean memory chipmaker’s U.S. receipts up 12.8% on Friday.

The offering raised $26.5 billion through 177.9 million American depositary receipts priced at $149 each, making it the largest first-time U.S. share sale by a foreign company and surpassing Alibaba’s 2014 record. Demand topped more than seven times the available shares, and the ADRs opened at $170, about 14% above the offer price, before regular-way trading was set to begin Monday under the permanent ticker SKHY after temporary trading under SKHYV. The proceeds were earmarked for chipmaking facility expansion and advanced equipment purchases.

LSEG data show SK Hynix traded at about 4.8 times 12-month forward earnings, far below the industry median of 29.84 times and Micron Technology’s 6.6 times. That discount is part of the so-called Korea discount, the market shorthand for lower valuations tied to governance concerns and limited access for overseas investors, and the Nasdaq listing could help narrow that gap by making the stock easier for U.S. investors to buy.

The selloff was profit-taking after a strong debut, not a collapse in AI demand, because structural demand for memory chips continues to outpace supply. Caution over second-quarter earnings and whether expected HBM4 shipment growth had fully materialized also weighed on the retreat, even as Reuters data show SK Hynix led the high-bandwidth memory market with a 58% first-quarter revenue share, ahead of Samsung and Micron at 21% each. HBM chips remain central to AI systems for customers such as Nvidia and Google.