Riding the global artificial intelligence wave, Korean chip giant SK Hynix launches a US$28 billion listing process in the United States
SK Hynix officially announced on Monday the launch of the IPO process for issuing depositary receipts (DRs) in the United States, aiming to raise 43 trillion won (approximately US$28.07 billion). This move aims to take advantage of the explosive growth of global artificial intelligence (AI) and deepen its competitive barriers in the field of next-generation memory chips through the global capital market. It is reported that the transaction will become one of the largest overseas listing projects in the global financial market. Documents disclosed by regulatory agencies show that SK hynix plans to conduct The stock exchange issued 177,900 U.S. depositary receipts (ADRs) corresponding to newly issued ordinary shares, with every 10 ADRs representing 1 ordinary share. The final pricing of the offering is expected to be determined on Thursday and will be officially listed for trading on Friday. SK hynix management will launch a global roadshow this week. The company stated that all the overseas funds raised from this issuance will be used to build an advanced process chip factory in South Korea and purchase core wafer manufacturing equipment including the Netherlands' ASML extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine. Market analysis points out that as the demand for core hardware such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) in artificial intelligence data centers surges, Asia's leading semiconductor companies are setting off a new round of direct financing in overseas capital markets. In addition to SK Hynix, Unimicron Technology, a major carrier board manufacturer in Taiwan, also plans to raise approximately US$1.4 billion through the issuance of global depositary receipts (GDS) in the near future. Analysts from investment institutions emphasized that SK Hynix’s listing on the U.S. stock market will not only provide a direct U.S. dollar fund pool for its extremely capital-intensive production capacity expansion plan, but will also effectively broaden the international investor base and is expected to systematically narrow its previous differences due to regional differences. (Micron) and other U.S. peers have valuation discounts. Although the market has recently disagreed on the sustainability of this round of memory chip "super cycle", which has led to recent intensification of volatility in the semiconductor sector, SK Hynix's Seoul stock closed down 3.4% on Monday, but the stock's cumulative gains this year have reached as high as about 260%. As NVIDIA and A high-bandwidth memory core supplier to global AI giants such as Google, SK Hynix is expected to be included in important industry benchmark indices such as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index in the future, which will further stimulate the inflow of global passive tracking funds. It is worth noting that this major financing decision highly resonates with South Korea’s national-level strategic planning. The South Korean government just announced a grand national industrial strategy centered on semiconductors and artificial intelligence last week, planning to build the world's largest chip industry cluster with a total investment of US$576 billion in southwestern South Korea. SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics will serve as leading companies to anchor this strategic project. In response to this national strategy, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung made intensive arrangements on Monday, strictly ordering government officials at all levels to quickly advance the major chip and AI projects announced last week. Lee Jae-myung warned that delays in any aspect of relevant projects such as administrative approval, land acquisition, and power and water resources security may seriously weaken South Korea's core competitiveness in competing for dominance in this global advanced and cutting-edge industry.