SK Hynix Shares Surge Over 8%. U.S. IPO Draws 7-Fold Oversubscription, Can It Return to Historic Highs by the End of July?

TradingKey - SK Hynix's US IPO was oversubscribed, fueling a sharp rally in its stock price, though a return to all-time highs by late July remains unlikely.

During Asian trading hours on July 9, shares of South Korean AI memory giant SK Hynix opened higher and continued to climb, surging over 8% intraday to a high of 2.269 million won before paring gains to 2,239,000 won, recouping some of yesterday's losses. Yesterday, escalating tensions between the US and Iran sparked market panic, triggering a sharp sell-off in Korean equities, during which SK Hynix plummeted, nearly losing the 2 million won support level.

SK Hynix Stock Price Chart, Source: TradingView

SK Hynix staged an exceptionally strong rebound in early trading today, primarily driven by its US initial public offering (IPO) being oversubscribed by 7 times. According to the latest reports from Bloomberg and Reuters citing sources familiar with the matter, SK Hynix is set to officially debut on the US Nasdaq this Friday (July 10) in the form of ADRs (ticker: SKHY). The company plans to raise $28 billion, and the offering has already been oversubscribed by more than 7 times.

Three heavyweight cornerstone investors have taken the lead in pledging to jointly subscribe for up to $7 billion in ADRs (representing approximately 25% of the total offering size). These institutions are the prominent UK asset management giant Baillie Gifford, the top US technology hedge fund Coatue Management, and Situational Awareness Partners, founded by Leopold Aschenbrenner, a former prominent core researcher at OpenAI. According to reports from Reuters and Bloomberg, the main subscription demand comes from global large-scale long-only funds, hedge funds and investment firms specializing in technology and AI, as well as certain US sovereign and large institutional investors.

The fact that SK Hynix remains highly sought after despite escalating US-Iran tensions indicates that previous market fears of "geopolitical conflicts scaring capital away from US equities" have been dispelled. Such an intense subscription frenzy implies a high probability of a premium when US markets open on July 10. However, a massive surge back toward its all-time high of nearly 3 million won remains unlikely, as the market continues to harbor doubts regarding "AI monetization capabilities," and a hawkish Federal Reserve continues to weigh on AI valuations.

For SK Hynix to directly shatter its all-time ceiling of 2.987 million won by the end of July, the most critical factor will be the strength of the broader US semiconductor sector's rebound in late July, which depends heavily on market optimism surrounding upcoming Q2 earnings. If Micron ( MU ), Nvidia ( NVDA ), Broadcom ( AVGO ), and others continue to weaken, it will be difficult for SK Hynix to stage an independent rally; only if they rebound and strengthen will SK Hynix have a chance of approaching its previous highs.