SK Hynix Sees Strong Nasdaq Debut; Potential U.S. Memory Plant Construction on the Horizon

SK Hynix, which entered the Nasdaq through an American Depositary Receipt (ADR) listing, surged more than 13% on its first day of trading.

SK Hynix began trading at $170 on the 10th (local time) and climbed as high as $177 at one point, proving strong investor interest.

Although it gave back some of its gains in the afternoon, the stock closed at $168.49.

This is 13.1% higher than the offering price of $149.

Converted to Korean won, this is approximately 2,528,000 won per common share of SK Hynix, which is about 16% higher than the closing price of 2.18 million won on the Korean stock market the previous day.

Analysts suggest that this listing serves as an opportunity for a revaluation of the stock price of the Korean memory semiconductor company.

Among the top three global memory semiconductor companies, the stock prices of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have tended to be relatively undervalued compared to Micron, the third-ranked company that has been the only one traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Analysts believe this listing has provided an opportunity for SK Hynix to be re-evaluated as an AI memory semiconductor stock.

There are also forecasts that if the company is included in semiconductor indices on the New York Stock Exchange, such as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, large-scale passive funds could flow in over the long term.

SK Hynix's ADR listing is worth a total of $26.5 billion, or approximately 40 trillion won.

It is the second-largest in the U.S. market, following SpaceX, which set an all-time record with its initial public offering last month.

SK Hynix is expected to invest the funds secured from this successful Nasdaq listing intensively into new facility investments.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won left open the possibility of investing in semiconductor production facilities in the U.S. during the listing ceremony held locally.

In an interview with CNBC, Chairman Chey stated, "We are considering additional investments beyond the advanced packaging facility in Indiana," adding, "If conditions such as power, water, personnel, and supply chains are met, the construction of a memory production plant is also possible."

Currently, SK Hynix is building a semiconductor packaging production base in West Lafayette, Indiana, with an investment of $3.87 billion.

Chairman Chey's remarks on additional investment are drawing attention as they came immediately after U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick publicly urged Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to expand memory semiconductor production in the U.S. the previous day.

Secretary Lutnick, who attended an event at Micron's New York plant, said, "I want to bring Samsung and SK Hynix to the U.S. to build production facilities," adding, "Micron's competitors will eventually have no choice but to follow."

Reported by An Hyemin | Video by Na Hong-hee | Graphics by Lee Jung-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.