South Korea’s SK Hynix, a major player in the global memory chip market, is making a splash on the U.S. stock exchange during a time when the demand for its products is outstripping supply, driven by the surge in artificial intelligence technology.
Already a heavyweight alongside Samsung Electronics on Seoul’s Kospi index, SK Hynix has been experiencing impressive growth. Despite a recent dip, the Kospi index boasts a 77% increase this year, with SK Hynix’s share prices having more than tripled.
On Thursday, SK Hynix set the price of its American depositary receipts (ADRs) at $149 per piece. This monumental offering of 177.9 million ADRs generated $26.5 billion, marking it as the largest initial share offering in the U.S. by any non-American entity. The shares are set to begin trading on Nasdaq later today.
SK Hynix holds a leading position in the world for high bandwidth memory, a crucial component in advancing AI technologies. The company recently forged a partnership with Nvidia, Wall Street’s most valuable entity, focusing on advanced memory chips to support the rapidly expanding AI infrastructure worldwide.
The burgeoning demand for artificial intelligence has led to soaring profits for chip manufacturers. As memory chips become more costly amidst escalating demand and technological advancements, even tech giant Apple has announced price hikes for its Macs and iPads due to the increased cost of memory chips.
The U.S. is the SK Hynix’s largest market, accounting for 68.8% of its revenue last year. It is planning an expansion that includes building its first U.S. production facility, located in Indiana. Overall, the company had revenue of just under $65 billion in 2025. That helped profits double to about $28 billion.
The company recently joined with Samsung and the government in announcing plans to invest a combined 800 trillion won ($518 billion) in building a new computer chipmaking hub in South Korea’s southwest region, part of national efforts to expand investment beyond the greater Seoul metropolitan area, the country’s economic center and heart of its semiconductor sector.
The promise of growing profits has catapulted stock prices within the tech sector, particularly for chipmakers. Micron Technology’s stock value more than tripled in 2025 and is on pace to more than triple again in 2026. Nvidia’s stock had similar growth several years ago and notched more relatively modest gains in 2025.
Big chipmakers have become the most valuable and influential companies on Wall Street. Their high stock values give them outsized influence over Wall Street and major indexes have been setting records mostly because of the tech sector.
Shares in SK Hynix traded in Seoul slipped 0.3% on Friday.
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