SK hynix IPO on Nasdaq: Nvidia memory supplier targets up to $28B deal
One of the world’s most valuable chipmakers is preparing for its U.S. market debut. SK hynix, South Korea’s memory leader and a key supplier of components for AI accelerators, is listing shares on Nasdaq. At a time when many AI startups going public remain unprofitable, this is a rare case: the company is coming to market as a highly profitable business with a market capitalization above $1 trillion.
What is happening
Technically, this is not a classic IPO. SK hynix has traded on the Korea Exchange, KOSPI, for almost three decades. On Nasdaq, the company is listing American Depositary Shares, ADS, under the ticker SKHY. This structure allows a foreign company to access a U.S. exchange without issuing new ordinary shares directly: a depositary bank holds the underlying shares on KOSPI and issues dollar-denominated receipts that trade in the United States.
The company is offering 177.9 million ADS, equivalent to 17.79 million ordinary shares at a 10-to-1 ratio, at around $158.14 per ADS. The total offering size is approximately $28.13 billion, with trading expected to begin on July 10, 2026. The deal is led by BofA Securities, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan, while cornerstone investors Baillie Gifford, Coatue and Situational Awareness Partners have indicated interest of up to $7 billion. The lineup of underwriters and anchor investors alone points to the scale of the transaction.
Proceeds are expected to fund the expansion of HBM and advanced memory production, new fabs and equipment purchases. For global investors, the Nasdaq listing provides direct dollar-denominated access to SK hynix without the need to trade on the Korean market.
What SK hynix does
SK hynix produces three key types of memory. DRAM is the main working memory used in servers, PCs and smartphones, where the company holds around 29% of the global market. NAND Flash and enterprise SSDs account for another major segment, with SK hynix holding roughly 18% market share. Finally, there is HBM, ultra-fast memory for AI accelerators, where SK hynix leads with a share of around 56%.
The company’s financial results reflect the scale of the AI boom. In fiscal 2025, revenue reached a record KRW 97.1 trillion, while net income came in at KRW 42.9 trillion. The first quarter of 2026 was the strongest in the company’s history: revenue reached KRW 52.58 trillion, or about $35.5 billion, up almost 200% year over year, while operating margin reached an exceptional 72%. For a chipmaker, that is an extraordinary figure, driven largely by the shortage of HBM.
What HBM is and why it matters for AI
HBM, High Bandwidth Memory, is built by stacking multiple DRAM dies vertically and connecting them through thousands of tiny channels. This architecture delivers massive bandwidth and allows the memory to sit close to the graphics processor. Without HBM, modern AI accelerators would hit the so-called “memory wall”: the compute core would be forced to wait for data instead of processing it.
That is why HBM has become one of the most critical and supply-constrained components in the entire AI infrastructure stack. Only three companies in the world can produce it at scale, and the technological barrier to entry is extremely high. SK hynix leads this segment: it was the first to begin mass shipments of HBM3E and the first to ship samples of next-generation HBM4, nearly a year ahead of Samsung. Revenue from the HBM business has grown by more than 200% year over year.
Memory shortage and record profitability
The memory market is cyclical: periods of oversupply and falling prices are followed by shortages and sharp price increases. The industry is now going through one of the strongest upcycles in its history, often described by analysts as a memory supercycle. The buildout of AI data centers has pushed memory demand higher faster than producers can add capacity, sending prices up across the stack, from HBM to standard DRAM.
For SK hynix, this means record profitability. When demand exceeds supply and capacity is effectively contracted years in advance, the company can sell memory at high margins. At the same time, this is also the key risk investors need to remember: the memory industry has seen sharp reversals before.
Competition: Samsung and Micron
The global memory market is dominated by three players: SK hynix, Samsung and U.S.-based Micron. SK hynix currently leads in HBM, but competitors are moving quickly. Samsung regained the top spot in DRAM revenue in late 2025 and began shipping its own HBM4 chips in early 2026. Micron is also scaling HBM production for the same group of customers. Competition for technology leadership and orders from the largest AI chip developers is set to intensify.
Customers and production
SK hynix’s key customer is Nvidia, whose AI accelerators use the company’s memory. Demand from AI chipmakers and data center operators drives a major share of revenue in the HBM segment.
The company’s production base is concentrated in South Korea, with fabs in Icheon and Cheongju, as well as China, including Wuxi and Dalian. SK hynix is also making large-scale, multi-year investments in a new semiconductor cluster in Yongin, one of the largest construction projects in the industry, designed to support future growth in memory demand.
From near bankruptcy to AI-era leader
The history of SK hynix is a story of survival in one of the world’s most cyclical industries. The company was founded in 1983 as Hyundai Electronics, merged with LG Semicon in 1999 and, in the early 2000s, after a collapse in memory prices, came close to bankruptcy. For several years, it operated under creditor control as Hynix. The turning point came in 2012, when SK Group acquired the company and gave it its current name. Its bet on HBM, long seen by the market as a niche technology, eventually turned SK hynix into one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom.
Context: the 2026 listing wave
The SK hynix listing comes during a record wave of public market debuts. In June, SpaceX listed on Nasdaq in the largest IPO in history, although its shares corrected notably after the debut. Anthropic has filed for an IPO, and other technology companies are also being discussed as potential candidates. Against this backdrop, SK hynix stands out because it is coming to market as a mature and profitable business, while many listings this year remain bets on future expectations.
What investors should consider
Despite the strength of the investment case, the deal carries risks.
Market cyclicality. Memory remains one of the most cyclical segments of the semiconductor industry. The current HBM supercycle may eventually shift into a period of cooling demand and lower prices.
High valuation. Semiconductor stocks are trading at elevated multiples on the back of the AI boom. This makes shares sensitive to any signs of slowing growth or downward revisions to expectations.
Competition. Samsung and Micron are actively expanding their HBM positions. In the memory industry, technology leadership can shift quickly from one producer to another.
Geopolitics. Part of the production chain is linked to China, leaving the company exposed to export controls, trade tensions and semiconductor regulation.
Currency risk. The underlying SK hynix shares are denominated in Korean won, so the dollar value of the ADS depends not only on business performance but also on currency movements.
This material is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Dates and offering terms may change. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
