SK hynix ADR Offering Price Set at $149...Largest Foreign Company IPO in U.S. Market

Premium Pricing Achieved Despite Volatility in Semiconductor Stocks
Strong Demand from Global Institutional Investors in Bookbuilding
Accelerated Domestic Facility Investment Through Capital Raised

SK hynix has finalized the offering price for its American Depositary Receipts (ADR) at $149 per share. This marks the largest overseas listing by a foreign company in the United States to date, and the second-largest initial public offering (IPO) overall in the U.S. market, following SpaceX.

On July 9 (local time), SK hynix announced the finalized ADR offering price through its English-language website.

The offering price is approximately 2.9% higher than the price converted from the closing price of SK hynix's common shares on the KOSPI market that same day, which was KRW 2,186,000 per share. Applying an exchange rate of KRW 1,509.9, one common share is equivalent to $1,447.8, and one ADR is equivalent to $144.8. According to disclosures to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), ten SK hynix ADRs represent one common share.

Despite recent volatility in memory semiconductor stocks, the offering price has been set at a premium without any discount. According to industry sources, SK hynix achieved a rare case of premium pricing among overseas corporate offerings during this listing process.

With the offering price set at $149 per ADR, the total size of the ADR offering amounts to $26.5 billion (approximately KRW 40 trillion). This exceeds the $25 billion IPO of Alibaba, which was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014. Last month, SpaceX achieved the largest U.S. IPO in history at $75 billion, and now SK hynix will rank as the second-largest IPO ever in the U.S. market.

According to Bloomberg and others, demand for SK hynix's ADR was strong, with subscriptions exceeding seven times the available offering due to high interest from global long-term investment funds, technology-focused funds, sovereign wealth funds, and Asia-focused global investors. In particular, major investors such as Baillie Gifford, Coatue Management, and Situational Awareness reportedly expressed intentions to invest up to $7 billion.

SK hynix plans to aggressively expand its semiconductor production capacity (CAPA). The funds raised will be invested in the construction of phase 1 of the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster fab, the Cheongju P&T7 Advanced Packaging fab, and equipment and facility investments. The company also announced an investment of KRW 1.19 trillion in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment to be introduced by the end of next year.

Meanwhile, SK hynix's ADR will begin conditional trading on July 10. The conditional trading ticker will be SKHYV, and once regular trading starts on July 13, the ticker will change to SKHY.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.