SK Hynix plans massive US share sale to ride the AI infrastructure wave
The South Korean memory chipmaker is targeting up to $29.4 billion through a Nasdaq listing, one of the largest foreign share offerings in history.
SK Hynix, the South Korean company that makes the memory chips powering Nvidia’s AI accelerators, is about to become a very big deal on Wall Street. The chipmaker has launched a US share offering through American Depositary Receipts on Nasdaq, targeting between $28 billion and $29.4 billion in what would rank among the largest foreign share sales ever.
Demand has exceeded available shares by more than seven times, with cornerstone investors alone committing upwards of $7 billion.
The numbers behind the offering
SK Hynix plans to issue approximately 177.9 million ADRs, equivalent to about 17.79 million new common shares, under the Nasdaq ticker SKHY. The offering is priced near $149 per ADR, which would land the raise at around $26.5 billion at that level.
The company’s stock has more than tripled in value during 2026. SK Hynix has earmarked the proceeds for constructing new chip fabrication facilities in South Korea and purchasing advanced EUV lithography scanners from ASML. A new fab is expected to come online in the first half of 2027. The broader buildout could increase SK Hynix’s production capacity by approximately 60% by 2030.
Why this matters beyond semiconductors
SK Hynix is the dominant supplier of high-bandwidth memory chips, the specialized silicon that sits inside Nvidia’s AI processors. The Nasdaq listing also serves a more tactical purpose. By making shares directly accessible to US investors, SK Hynix aims to narrow the valuation gap with competitors like Micron Technology, which already trades on US exchanges.
What this means for investors
SK Hynix and Samsung together control the vast majority of the HBM market. Micron has been working to catch up but remains a distant third. If SK Hynix uses this capital to expand capacity aggressively while investing in next-generation HBM technology, it could widen the gap further.
The risk side of the ledger isn’t empty either. Memory chip markets are notoriously cyclical. The last major downturn in 2023 saw HBM demand crater before AI spending revived it. That 60% capacity increase by 2030 looks brilliant in a boom and catastrophic in a bust.