SK Hynix is preparing one of the largest US share sales of the year, filing to list American depositary receipts on a US exchange in an offering that could raise close to $29 billion, as the South Korean memory-chip maker seeks to broaden its investor base and capitalize on its central role in the artificial-intelligence boom. Analysts at HSBC argued the listing could help the company close a long-standing valuation gap with its US rival.
According to regulatory filings disclosed this week, SK Hynix plans to issue 17.79 million new shares valued at 45.45 trillion won, equivalent to roughly $29.4 billion, with an indicative price of about $166 per receipt. The company said it expects trading to begin around July 10, though it cautioned the date is tentative and subject to change. If completed at that scale, the offering would rank among the largest global listings of the year, trailing a record share sale by a US space company earlier in the month, and would stand as one of the biggest-ever Wall Street debuts by an Asian firm.
In a note, HSBC analysts said they were applying a premium of around 20% to the proposed listing price, reflecting their view that the shares could be worth meaningfully more as a US listing improves access for American investors. The bank pointed out that the US rival memory maker has traded at an average premium of about 35% to SK Hynix over the past 13 years, attributing the gap to better access to US investors, more shareholder-friendly policies and a higher-beta profile, and said it was now factoring the impact of the planned listing into its valuation.
The strategic logic centers on the so-called Korea discount, a persistent tendency for South Korean stocks to trade at lower valuations than global peers, often linked to concerns about corporate governance, geopolitical risk and lower liquidity in the home market. By listing in the United States, SK Hynix is betting that easier access for large American funds will allow what it described in its filing as its true corporate value to be more properly reflected, and help elevate its standing as a global company at the center of AI innovation.
The timing follows a strong read-across from the sector. A blowout set of quarterly results from a US peer reinforced expectations that the market for AI memory chips remains tightly supply-constrained, a dynamic that benefits SK Hynix directly. The company is the leading supplier of high-bandwidth memory, the specialized chips paired with advanced processors in AI servers, and analysts noted that it is exposed to the same favorable conditions, having been effectively sold out of that capacity for several quarters as customers compete for limited supply.
SK Hynix has been one of the clearest beneficiaries of the data-center build-out, and its market value recently climbed above $2 trillion after a sharp AI-driven rally, overtaking its larger domestic rival to become South Korea's most valuable listed company. According to industry research, it holds the top global share in high-bandwidth memory and ranks second in the broader markets for dynamic memory and flash storage.
The plan unfolds against a backdrop of renewed volatility in technology shares, with investors questioning whether AI-linked stocks have risen too far and rising memory costs squeezing some large technology firms. Even so, SK Hynix sits in the part of the supply chain where demand looks strongest, and a successful listing would give it a new international benchmark for its valuation while underscoring how AI demand is reshaping not only chip production but the capital markets themselves.