SK Hynix’s $26.5 Billion Nasdaq Debut: The Korea Discount Meets a $1.2 Trillion Market Cap
Published on 07/11/2026 at 08:33 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
SK Hynix has pulled off the largest US listing by a foreign company ever, raising $26.5 billion through American Depositary Receipts on the Nasdaq, but the celebration in New York tells only half the story. Back in Seoul, the stock has shed 10.1% over the past week, underscoring a disconnect that investors are now parsing for clues about the memory giant’s next move.
The offering, completed on July 10, 2026, saw SK Hynix sell 177.9 million ADRs at $149 each, with the deal seven times oversubscribed. The securities opened at $170, a 14% premium, and closed the first session at $168.01. Capital settlement is due July 14, and an additional listing of the underlying common shares on the Kospi will follow on July 29. The Nasdaq ticker changes to “SKHY” on Monday, July 13. Including the ADR tranche, the company’s total market capitalization now stands at roughly $1.2 trillion, overtaking US rival Micron’s $1.1 trillion valuation.
That milestone puts the so-called Korea Discount – the persistent tendency for South Korean tech names to trade at lower multiples than their global peers – squarely in the spotlight. SK Hynix’s Seoul-listed shares carry a market cap of about 898.77 billion euros and change hands at just 4.8 times expected earnings, compared with a sector median of 29.84 and Micron’s 6.6. Analysts expect the Nasdaq listing to narrow that gap, though not erase it entirely. Adding to the uncertainty, group chairman Chey Tae-won has hinted that additional share issuances in the US could follow if returns on capital justify further dilution.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying SK Hynix?
At the heart of the bull case lies SK Hynix’s commanding position in high-bandwidth memory (HBM), where it controlled 56.4% of the market in the first quarter. CEO Kwak Noh-jung has warned that the industry faces its worst ever supply crunch by 2027, with demand outstripping capacity well into 2030 – a scenario he attributes to “exponential” growth in AI chip orders from customers such as Nvidia and Apple. The company plans to invest the fresh capital in a $3.87 billion packaging facility in Indiana, a $10 billion stake in a US-based AI solutions firm, and a sprawling chip cluster in Yongin with a projected outlay of $390 billion. Still, the lead is expected to shrink: analysts see SK Hynix’s HBM share slipping to around 50% this year and toward the low-40% range over the medium term as Samsung and Chinese rivals ramp up output.
The numbers behind the narrative are formidable. In the first quarter of 2026, SK Hynix posted an operating profit of 37.6 trillion won on revenue of 52.6 trillion won – up 405% and 198% year-on-year, respectively – for an operating margin of 72%. The full-year 2025 result saw revenue of 97.1 trillion won and operating income of 47.2 trillion won. Looking ahead, the market forecasts second-quarter 2026 operating profit of 65.5 trillion won and full-year revenue of around 235 billion dollars, a near tripling from 2025.
Seoul-listed shares closed Friday at 2,180,000 won, down 0.27% on the day, bringing the weekly loss to 10.1%. Despite that pullback, the stock remains 222% higher year-to-date and still sits 27% below its 52-week high of 2,987,000 won, set on June 25. The annualized 30-day volatility has spiked to 114.7%, a level that leaves the stock vulnerable to sharp corrections. The relative strength index at 46.1 points to neutral momentum, while the price holds just 1.76% above the 50-day moving average of 2,142,220 won. A decisive drop below the 100-day average of 1,565,950 won would, however, signal a deeper correction for the broader AI memory narrative.
The next catalyst is the Nasdaq listing itself, which could pave the way for inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 by December 2026. For now, the shares are consolidating after the recent retreat, with the 2,500,000 won level emerging as a key resistance to reclaim before another run at the year’s high. Meanwhile, the arrival of two leveraged Nasdaq products tied to the stock underscores the speculative interest swirling around the US debut – a reminder that the same forces that powered the record capital raise also feed the volatility that keeps local investors on edge.
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SK Hynix Stock: New Analysis - 11 July
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