SK Hynix Raises $26.5 Billion in Record Nasdaq Debut

South Korean semiconductor manufacturer SK Hynix debuted on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on July 10, 2026, raising $26.5 billion through the sale of 177.9 million American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). Priced at $149 per share, the offering was more than seven times oversubscribed, with total orders reaching approximately $171.5 billion. The listing marks the largest-ever U.S. debut by a foreign firm, trailing only the record $85.7 billion IPO of SpaceX in terms of total scale.

The company intends to use the proceeds to finance a $390 billion fabrication cluster in Yongin, an advanced packaging facility in Cheongju, and a $4 billion packaging plant in West Lafayette, Indiana. These expansions aim to address a severe global memory shortage that CEO Kwak Noh-jung predicts will peak in 2027 and persist beyond 2030. This growth is driven by SK Hynix's dominance in high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which is essential for Nvidia's AI accelerators.

Market reaction was volatile. While Nasdaq shares surged approximately 13% on the first day of trading to close around $168.01, the company's Seoul-listed shares crashed as much as 15.4% on Monday, July 14, marking its steepest single-day fall on record. Despite this, the company's market capitalization has exceeded $1.2 trillion, reflecting its transition from a cyclical commodity provider to a structural AI infrastructure leader. To maintain this position, SK Hynix has entered multi-year technology partnerships with Nvidia and is evaluating further wafer fabrication sites in Japan and Southeast Asia.