SK Hynix shares surged roughly 13% on their first day of US trading. The South Korean memory chip giant's American depositary receipts climbed on the Nasdaq, driven by intense investor enthusiasm for AI infrastructure.
The listing raised $26.5 billion, making it the second-largest share sale in US history. The company controls approximately 60% of the global high-bandwidth memory market by revenue. It makes the specialized memory chips that companies like Nvidia need to power their AI processors.
The Nasdaq debut came after two major catalysts: a multi-year partnership with Nvidia and the shipment of its next-generation HBM4E memory samples. SK Hynix overtook Samsung as South Korea's most valuable company in June. Its shares have increased over 340% year-to-date.
High-bandwidth memory, or HBM, is the fast-access memory critical for AI processors. With a dominant market share, SK Hynix is a key enabler of the AI boom. Rivals like Samsung and Micron now face a significant challenge catching up.
The primary risk is market cyclicality. Memory chip markets have historically experienced boom-and-bust cycles. With shares already soaring, any downturn in AI spending could trigger a sharp correction.