SK Hynix ADR Offering Near Pricing
SK Hynix Inc (ticker 000660) rebounded sharply on Thursday as investors looked past a global semiconductor sell‑off ahead of pricing for its U.S. American depositary receipt (ADR) offering valued at $28 billion. Multiple media reports indicated that demand comfortably exceeded the shares on offer, with the offering described as multiple times oversubscribed.
The company is expected to announce the final offer price after the South Korean market closes on Thursday, and the ADRs are scheduled to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on Friday.
In Asian trading, SK Hynix shares surged 7.1%, outperforming the broader KOSPI, which rose 2.4%, thereby recouping part of the steep losses recorded over the prior two sessions that were triggered by profit‑taking in AI‑related chip stocks.
The ADR offering consists of 17.79 million new shares, representing roughly 2.5% of SK Hynix’s outstanding equity. This size positions the deal among the largest equity offerings ever completed by a foreign company in the United States and will broaden the company’s access to U.S. institutional investors.
Institutional demand has been robust: several U.S. investors submitted orders ranging from $200 million to more than $1 billion. Prominent investment firms, including Baillie Gifford, funds managed by Coatue Management, and Situational Awareness Partners, have separately indicated they could purchase up to a combined $7 billion of the ADRs.
SK Hynix intends to use the proceeds to expand manufacturing capacity for high‑bandwidth memory chips that are used in artificial‑intelligence servers, as demand for such chips continues to accelerate.