Overview
- SK Hynix completed a Nasdaq American Depositary Receipt offering that raised about $26.5 billion, with the ADRs priced at $149 and debuting on the exchange last Friday.
- Seoul‑listed shares fell roughly 15% after the U.S. listing, and the ADRs later slipped as investors booked profits and arbitrage between U.S. and Korean listings widened.
- CEO Kwak Noh‑jung warned the memory shortage will peak in 2027 and that demand could outpace supply beyond 2030, a view the company says motivates the fund raise.
- U.S. officials urged Asian suppliers to build AI memory fabs on U.S. soil and South Korea’s ruling party proposed easing holding‑company rules so SK Hynix can take outside capital while keeping majority control.
- Bank of America analysis and industry insiders say new fabs will be slow to ramp—possibly adding only about one‑sixth of planned capacity by 2028 and taking up to a decade to fully scale—raising execution risk, price‑volatility for AI customers, and legal scrutiny over past supply choices.