SK Hynix US Listing Oversubscribed 7x Despite KOSPI Bear Market Dip

SK Hynix’s $28 billion United States share sale drew orders for more than seven times the available shares. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The demand emerged the same week South Korea’s KOSPI briefly slid into a technical bear market. Steep losses in SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics shares dragged the index down.

Institutional Money Bets Big Despite the Swings

The order book drew interest from global long-only funds, sovereign wealth funds, and Asia-focused institutional investors. Demand held steady throughout the week’s volatility.

Baillie Gifford, Coatue Management, and Situational Awareness Partners indicated interest for as much as $7 billion combined. Bloomberg reported the figure, citing people familiar with the matter.

SK Hynix shares jumped in Seoul on Thursday, July 9, along with the KOSPI. Underwriters, including Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase, told investors they would set pricing after the local market closed, with allocations following later Thursday in US time.

The offering trails only SpaceX’s $85.7 billion IPO last month. It ranks as the world’s second-biggest share sale this year. The listing also lands the same week UBS told clients to buy SK Hynix’s ADRs and sell its Seoul stock, betting the US shares would trade at a premium.

A Bear Market That Lasted a Single Session

While SK Hynix is a major driver in the South Korean stock market, the KOSPI tumbled 5.35% Wednesday to close at 7,246.79. That put the index more than 20% below its recent record high, the threshold that defines a bear market. The index rebounded nearly 4% by Thursday’s open, pulling it back above that line within a day.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix now account for roughly half of KOSPI’s total weight. A year ago, the two stocks made up about a quarter of the index, according to Zavier Wong, a market analyst at eToro.

Samsung and SK Hynix now make up around half the Kospi’s total weight, up from around just a quarter at the end of last year. A sharp move in either name drags the whole index with it before the other roughly nine hundred listed companies get a say.— Wong

That concentration cuts both ways. Samsung forecast a nearly 19-fold profit jump this week, yet its stock still fell. Wall Street remains split on the broader AI chip pullback, with JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley staking out opposite bets.

SK Hynix will begin when-issued trading Friday on the Nasdaq under the symbol SKHYV. Regular trading starts July 13 under the ticker SKHY.

Global investors kept buying SK Hynix’s dollar shares through a single-session panic in Seoul. That gap raises a real question for Friday’s debut. It is unclear whether overseas buyers are pricing in more confidence in the AI chip cycle than Korea’s own market showed this week.