SK Hynix Plans US Listing to Raise Up to $10 Billion

TradingKey — This Wednesday (March 25), South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix is considering raising 10 trillion to 15 trillion won (approximately $10.03 billion) through a U.S. listing to expand its advanced memory chip production capacity.

Reuters, citing the Korea Economic Daily, reported that the company plans to issue new shares and pursue a listing via American Depositary Receipts (ADRs); SK Hynix later told Reuters it is evaluating various options to boost shareholder value, including ADRs, but no final decision has been made yet.

This indicates that SK Hynix's overseas capital operations are accelerating.

Chairman Chey Tae-won stated last week that the company is reviewing a U.S. ADR listing to broaden its global investor base beyond South Korea and increase exposure to U.S. and international capital.

For this Nvidia ( NVDA) primary high-bandwidth memory supplier, further access to U.S. capital markets will also help secure more flexible funding for AI-related expansion.

The market is closely monitoring this potential financing primarily because SK Hynix is currently at the forefront of the explosion in AI memory demand.

Reuters previously reported that SK Hynix holds a 57% share of the HBM market and ranks second in the global DRAM market with a 32% share.

Meanwhile, Chey believes the chip wafer shortage could persist until 2030, and that DRAM price stability and capacity expansion will be key focus areas for the foreseeable future.