[Anchor]

SK Hynix is entering the U.S. Nasdaq market tonight, July 10.

With the company set to raise approximately 40 trillion won, we will explore the significance of this U.S. market entry and explain what an American Depositary Receipt (ADR) is. Reporter Min Gyeongho has the details.

[Reporter]

Simply put, this allows U.S. investors, who previously had to purchase SK Hynix shares directly in Korean won, to trade the stock within the U.S. market.

However, they are not trading the actual shares directly.

The company has issued 17.79 million new shares, representing about 2.5% of its total outstanding shares, and deposited them with Citibank in the U.S. The certificates issued by Citibank are what investors will be trading.

These certificates are called Depositary Receipts (DR), and those issued in the U.S. are specifically known as ADRs.

Given the high price of SK Hynix stock, the company split the shares by a factor of 10 to lower the price and ensure sufficient liquidity.

The price per ADR was set at 149 dollars.

Buying one ADR in the U.S. is equivalent to purchasing 0.1 shares of the actual SK Hynix stock.

Yesterday, SK Hynix closed at 2,186,000 won on the Korean market. Converting that to dollars and dividing by 10 results in 144.5 dollars.

With the offering price set at 149 dollars, there is a premium of about 3%.

SK Hynix stated that demand for the offering was seven times the available amount, marking the first time in U.S. stock market history that a common stock offering has commanded such a premium.

As the company gains recognition for its value as a global memory chipmaker, the total amount raised through this listing is 26.507 billion dollars, or approximately 40 trillion won in Korean currency.

This is the largest public offering by a foreign company on the U.S. stock market to date, and the third-largest in the global public offering market, following space company SpaceX and the Saudi Arabian state-owned oil company Aramco.

SK Hynix plans to use the funds raised to construct semiconductor plants and install equipment in locations such as Yongin and Cheongju.

(Video reporting: Kang Dong-cheol, Video editing: So Ji-hye)

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[Anchor]

As this is the largest U.S. listing in the history of a Korean company, it is expected to have a significant impact on our market.

Let us discuss this further with reporter Min Gyeongho from the Economic Department.

Q. Will the SK Hynix U.S. market premium continue?

[Reporter Min Gyeongho: It seems quite possible in the early stages of the listing. Above all, SK Hynix, which has been undervalued compared to its competitor Micron, is now listed on the same market, leading to forecasts that a premium will be attached compared to the domestic market price. If arbitrage trading—buying in Korea and selling in the U.S.—becomes possible, this gap would naturally disappear. However, authorities may intervene with regulations to account for side effects such as volatility. In the case of TSMC, a Taiwanese semiconductor company that also listed via ADR in the U.S., the stock trades at a premium of over 15% compared to its Taiwan listing, and it is also subject to strict regulations.]

Q. Will the SK Hynix stock price in the Korean market rise?

[Reporter Min Gyeongho: It is positive in that if the price of SK Hynix forms at a high level in the U.S. market amid a favorable outlook for semiconductors, it could stimulate domestic investor sentiment. However, one must be cautious about the possibility of being more heavily influenced by the logic of the U.S. AI market. If concerns such as a semiconductor peak-out are raised strongly in the U.S. market, a larger-than-expected decline could occur in the Korean market. Today, SK Hynix stock fluctuated before closing slightly lower, which can be interpreted as a reflection of these complex, conflicting outlooks.]

Q. What is the impact on our entire stock market?

[Reporter Min Gyeongho: One of the biggest causes of recent volatility in the domestic stock market has been the excessive concentration of capital in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. This listing will likely have the effect of diversifying at least some foreign investment in SK Hynix toward the U.S. market. Consequently, there are predictions that this will contribute to easing volatility in the domestic market. Furthermore, as the dollars raised through the listing are supplied domestically, there are expectations for the stabilization of the won-dollar exchange rate. Today, the won-dollar exchange rate briefly fell below 1,500 won during trading, and the stock market also saw a broad rally across various sectors, with the KOSPI rising by 2.5% and the KOSDAQ by over 5%.]