SK hynix wants a $14 billion U.S. IPO to fix a discount its own country can’t.
The South Korean memory giant, already listed on KOSPI, quietly filed an F-1 this week for an American depositary offering slated for the second half of 2026. The rumored raise: $10–14 billion, targeting the second half of 2026.
Valuation, not cash, is the real motive. Despite cornering the high-bandwidth-memory market that feeds Nvidia’s AI accelerators, SK hynix trades at lower multiples than U.S. peers. A Seoul-based semiconductor analyst told TechCrunch the gap is “long-standing” and pinned at least part of it on the stock’s Korean domicile.
“SK hynix’s U.S. listing could help close a long-standing valuation gap with global peers. Despite having comparable – or in some areas stronger production capacity than U.S.-based chipmakers, the Korean company has historically traded at a discount, partly due to its primary listing in Korea.”
Numbers back the claim. SK hynix carries a market cap of roughly $440 billion, yet its valuation multiples lag behind the likes of Micron, according to the same analyst.
Structure matters. Parent SK Square must keep at least a 20 % stake under Korea’s holding-company rules. Issuing about 2 % in new shares would raise the target $10–14 billion while letting SK Square stay above the legal threshold.
Precedent exists. Taiwan’s TSMC has seen its U.S. listed shares command a premium over its Taipei stock during AI booms, showing a cross-listing can re-rate the same underlying business.
The filing already has ripple effects. Artisan Partners, a major Samsung Electronics shareholder, urged the rival chipmaker Friday to pursue its own U.S. listing, arguing an ADR would lift Samsung’s valuation and open access to American retail investors, Bloomberg reports.
Behind the optics lies a capital arms race. CEO Noh-Jung Kwak told shareholders on March 25 that the company is targeting about $75 billion in net cash to bankroll long-term AI investments.
The shopping list is eye watering: $400 billion for a Yongin semiconductor cluster by 2050, $25 billion for domestic fabs, $3.3 billion for an Indiana plant, and a fresh $7.9 billion order for ASML’s EUV scanners due by 2027.
All told, SK hynix is betting that a U.S. ticker is the fastest way to turn geopolitical cachet into cheaper capital. If the gambit works, expect other Korean chipmakers to follow the same flight path.