SK hynixThe South Korean memory chip giant, already listed on the KOSPI, is laying the groundwork for a potential US listing that could attract an estimated $10 billion to $14 billion.
The company announced this week that it has confidentially introduced Formula 1, with a listing targeting the second half of 2026.
But the real question isn’t how much it can raise: it’s whether a US listing can increase its trade value as one of the most critical players in the AI chip supply chain.
Despite its critical role in high-bandwidth memory (HBM), a key component powering artificial intelligence systems, the stock has historically traded at a discount to global peers, according to the Seoul-based semiconductor analyst. It has a market cap of about $440 billion, but its valuation multiples remain below those of U.S.-listed semiconductor firms, raising questions about whether geography rather than fundamentals is partly driving the gap.
The move is seen as an attempt to raise its value to match global peers such as Micron.
“SK hynix’s U.S. listing could help close a long-standing valuation gap with its global peers. The Korean company has historically traded at a discount, partly due to its initial listing in Korea, despite having comparable or stronger manufacturing capacity than U.S.-based chipmakers,” the analyst told TechCrunch.
The analyst also noted the structural factors shaping the deal. “As of December 2025, SK Square, SK Hynix’s largest shareholder with 20.07%, is required by Korean holding company rules to hold at least a 20% stake.”
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Based on current share prices, issuing about 2% of new shares could raise SK Meydan to $10 billion to $14 billion while allowing it to maintain its ownership cap, the analyst said. (Under the Korean Fair Trade Law, holding companies must maintain a minimum ownership stake in subsidiaries to maintain control, at least 20% for listed enterprises.)
There is a precedent. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), for example, has seen its US-listed shares trade at a premium compared to its local shares, particularly during a period of strong AI-driven demand, suggesting that cross-listing could affect how investors value the same underlying business.
The move is already rippling through Korea’s broader chip sector. Following SK hynix’s filing, some investors are now pushing Samsung Electronics to consider a similar US listing. A U.S. listing (technically known as an American depositary receipt, or ADR) could help Samsung boost its valuation and also give U.S. retail investors a chance to buy its shares, its major shareholder Artisan Partners said on Friday. Bloomberg report.
A capital push to meet AI-driven demand
SK hynix’s planned IPO is also seen as a move to secure financing in the face of rising capital spending to meet growing demand for memory from AI semiconductors.
At its annual general meeting on March 25, SK hynix CEO Noh-Jung Kwak said financing will be key to continuing development in the AI era, adding that the company is targeting about $75 billion (KRW 100 trillion) in net cash to support long-term investments.
Rising costs and limited supply for memory have been among the obstacles slowing down the deployment of artificial intelligence, but it has also affected other industries such as consumer players. This is a dubbed situation “RAMmageddon” and is expected to continue until at least 2027 if nothing changes in the market, Nature informs.
Time will tell if this doomsday prediction is true. Tech giants are working to solve RAMmageddon in ways other than increased production. For example, Google this week introduced a technology called TurboQuantultra-efficient AI memory compression algorithm. This allows the AI to use memory more efficiently.
Nevertheless, signals suggest that more memory production will also be needed. SK hynix is gearing up for a wave of capital-intensive projects. The company plans to invest about $400 billion by 2050 in the construction of a semiconductor cluster in Yongin, South Korea. It is also building new facilities in South Korea and Indiana with planned investments of about $25 billion and $3.3 billion, respectively, underscoring the scale of capital required.
The chipmaker said this week it will acquire advanced extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography scanners from ASML in a deal worth $7.9 billion through 2027.
All this will be supported by a blockbuster US IPO. And that could prompt other Korean chipmakers to follow suit.
