South Korea's SK Hynix says to raise $29 billion in ADR listing

South Korea's SK Hynix said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to $29.4 billion through a U.S. stock market listing in what would be a record secondary listing, as the Nvidia supplier seeks to capitalise on strong investor appetite for AI stocks.

If completed at the top end, the offering would be the largest U.S. listing by a Korean firm and potentially the biggest ever via American Depositary Receipts, surpassing Alibaba's $25 billion 2014 debut.

The planned listing reflects strong global appetite for AI-linked equities, even as volatility increases ‌across U.S. tech ⁠and semiconductor ⁠markets.


It comes weeks after record-breaking equity issuance elsewhere in the sector, including a record $85.7 billion initial public offering by Elon Musk's SpaceX, and ahead of ​expected IPOs from AI-focused companies including Anthropic and OpenAI later this year.

ACCESS TO U.S. INVESTORS

"The most attractive benefit for investors is that SK Hynix will trade on Nasdaq alongside rival Micron, giving the company an opportunity to be re-rated in the U.S. market," said Ryu Young-ho, a senior analyst at NH Investment & Securities.

"That could also be reflected in its Korea-listed shares ​as investors increasingly link the two valuations."

The memory chip maker, now valued at ⁠about $1.2 trillion, ‌has been one of the clearest beneficiaries of the AI boom. Its shares have quadrupled ​so far this year, ​outperforming rivals Samsung Electronics and U.S.-based Micron.

The company is a key supplier of high-bandwidth memory chips ⁠used in AI systems by customers such as Nvidia and Alphabet's Google, ​and this week overtook Samsung to become South Korea's most valuable company company.

CLSA Senior ​Analyst Sanjeev Rana said expectations for a U.S. listing have already helped drive the stock's rally, alongside strong demand for high-end memory used in AI data centres.

"If they can get at least a valuation multiple similar to Micron, for example, then the local shares also need to reflect that, so that kind of expectation is there," Rana said. "I wouldn't be surprised if this rally continues."

CAPACITY EXPANSION

SK Hynix said the proceeds from the listing of American Depositary Receipts will be ‌used to build chip factories in South Korea and purchase chipmaking equipment such as an extreme ultraviolet scanner made by Dutch equipment maker ASML, shares of which rose 1.1% on Wednesday.

The world's second-largest memory chipmaker plans to issue 17.79 million new ⁠shares, worth 45.45 trillion won ($29.43 billion), in the ADR listing on Nasdaq.

Ten ADRs will represent one common share. Pricing will be finalised after bookbuilding, although the initial range is based on Tuesday's closing price of 2.555 million won ($1,651.69).

"The ADR listing ​should not materially change our view on SK Hynix or the memory sector," said Gary Tan, a Singapore-based portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments.

"The headline capital raise appears large but implies only limited dilution and remains modest relative to its mid-term capex plans."

BofA Securities, Citigroup Global Markets, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Securities are managing the offering, SK Hynix said.

($1 = 1,546.9000 won)