SK Hynix Shares Surge After Record Nasdaq Debut

SK Hynix Inc., the world's second largest memory chipmaker, began trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on July 10, 2026. The American depositary share (ADR) offering of approximately $28 billion marked the largest U.S. listing by a foreign company in history. Following the debut, shares experienced a historic single-day plunge on Monday, only to surge 23.85% to $188.68 on Tuesday, July 14.

This rally was fueled by optimism over artificial intelligence investments and a cooler-than-expected U.S. consumer price index report. Market sentiment was further bolstered by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, who predicted annual AI investment would reach $5 trillion by 2040. The stock is now a significant component of major international funds, including the State Street SPDR Portfolio Developed World ex-US ETF.

Volatility increased as financial firms introduced speculative trading tools. GraniteShares launched 2x long (SKUU) and -2x short (SKDD) daily exposure ETFs on July 14, while ProShares rolled out the Ultra SK Hynix (SKHU) 2x long fund. Direxion also filed for similar products. While these tools allow traders to bet on AI hardware growth without using margin, regulators have expressed caution. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has blocked ETFs exceeding 2x leverage, and South Korean regulator Lee Chan-jin expressed regret over previous approvals of single-stock ETFs due to significant value losses seen in May.