SK Hynix; World’s Second-Largest Memory Chipmaker and Nvidia’s Top HBM Supplier Weighs 0.5% Underwriter Fee as BofA, Citi, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Lead the Record Offering
SK Hynix has formally decided to list American depositary receipts on the Nasdaq, aiming to raise up to 45.45 trillion won; about $29 billion in a deal that, at the top of its range, would rank as the largest ADR offering ever, surpassing Alibaba’s $21.8 billion New York debut in 2014. Tech Times
According to Bloomberg via Investing.com, SK Hynix is considering paying the banks underwriting its planned U.S. listing a fee of about 0.5% of the offering. Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan are serving as lead underwriters.
The company plans to issue 17.79 million new shares at a value of 45.45 trillion won, with trading expected to start on July 10. All proceeds are earmarked for facilities: building the first fab at the Yongin semiconductor cluster, constructing the Cheongju P&T7 advanced-packaging fab for AI memory including HBM, and buying chipmaking equipment including extreme-ultraviolet scanners.
SK Hynix holds about 60% of the HBM market share. Shares in SK Hynix have soared over 280% this year, propelling its market capitalisation above $1 trillion.
If the timeline holds, SK Hynix would enter U.S. markets during a stretch shaping up to be unusually active for new listings, with OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX also expected to debut in the latter half of the year.
A 0.5% fee on a $29 billion offering is $145 million in bank fees alone. The real question is whether U.S. markets will finally price SK Hynix like the AI infrastructure backbone it has become.
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