By Heekyong Yang and Hyunjoo Jin
SEOUL, June 24 (Reuters) – South Korea’s SK Hynix said on Wednesday it plans to raise up to $29.4 billion through a U.S. stock market listing in what would be among the biggest listings globally, as the Nvidia supplier seeks to capitalise on strong investor appetite for AI stocks.
If completed at the top end, the deal would be the second-biggest share sale after a record $85.7 billion initial public offering by SpaceX earlier this month, surpassing Saudi Aramco’s $25.6 billion IPO in 2019 and Alibaba’s similar-sized offering in 2014.
The planned listing reflects strong global appetite for AI-linked equities, even as volatility increases across U.S. tech and semiconductor markets.
It comes weeks after record-breaking equity issuance elsewhere in the sector, including Elon Musk’s SpaceX, and ahead of expected IPOs from AI-focused companies including Anthropic and OpenAI later this year.
The world’s largest tech companies are tapping debt markets and raising equity to fund a costly expansion of AI infrastructure. Earlier this month, Google-parent Alphabet said it was looking to raise $80 billion in equity offerings.
ACCESS TO U.S. INVESTORS
“The most attractive benefit for investors is that SK Hynix will trade on Nasdaq alongside rival Micron, giving the company an opportunity to be re-rated in the U.S. market,” said Ryu Young-ho, a senior analyst at NH Investment & Securities.
“That could also be reflected in its Korea-listed shares as investors increasingly link the two valuations.”
The memory chip maker, now valued at about $1.2 trillion, has been one of the clearest beneficiaries of the AI boom. Its shares have quadrupled so far this year, outperforming rivals Samsung Electronics and U.S.-based Micron.
The company is a key supplier of high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI systems by customers such as Nvidia and Google, and this week overtook Samsung to become South Korea’s most valuable company.
CLSA Senior Analyst Sanjeev Rana said expectations for a U.S. listing have already helped drive the stock’s rally, alongside strong demand for high-end memory used in AI data centres.
“If they can get at least a valuation multiple similar to Micron, for example, then the local shares also need to reflect that, so that kind of expectation is there,” Rana said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if this rally continues.”
Its blistering share price rally marks a dramatic reversal of fortunes for a chipmaker that two decades ago nearly collapsed under debt and also helped the size of the share sale increase sharply from an initial plan which a source said in March could raise as much as $14 billion.
CAPACITY EXPANSION
SK Hynix said the proceeds from the listing of American Depositary Receipts will be used to build chip factories in South Korea and purchase chipmaking equipment such as an extreme ultraviolet scanner made by Dutch equipment maker ASML, shares of which rose 1.1% on Wednesday.
The world’s second-largest memory chipmaker plans to issue up to 17.79 million new shares, worth 45.45 trillion won ($29.43 billion), in the ADR listing on Nasdaq.
Ten ADRs will represent one common share. Pricing will be finalised after bookbuilding, although the initial range is based on Tuesday’s closing price of 2.555 million won ($1,651.69).
“The ADR listing should not materially change our view on SK Hynix or the memory sector,” said Gary Tan, a Singapore-based portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments.
“The headline capital raise appears large but implies only limited dilution and remains modest relative to its mid-term capex plans.”
BofA Securities, Citigroup Global Markets, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Securities are managing the offering, SK Hynix said.
($1 = 1,546.9000 won)
(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin, Heekyong Yang and Joyce Lee in Seoul, Kane Wu in Hong Kong; and Yantoultra Ngui and Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Louise Heavens)
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