US100 rebounds 1% 🔼SK hynix attracts record demand ahead of Nasdaq debut.

Despite the recent correction across semiconductor stocks, global investors have not lost their appetite for artificial intelligence. Nasdaq 100 futures are up nearly 1%, while the decline in Brent crude prices from around USD 81 to below USD 78 per barrel has provided some relief to investors despite ongoing uncertainty in the Middle East. According to Bloomberg, demand for SK hynix's American Depositary Receipt (ADR) offering exceeded the number of shares available by more than seven times. If the final pricing is set close to the current share price, the transaction will become the second-largest U.S. listing ever by a foreign company.

Key takeaways

• Demand for SK hynix ADRs exceeded supply by more than seven times, with total orders reaching approximately USD 171.5 billion.
• The company could raise around USD 24.5 billion, making it the second-largest foreign listing in U.S. history after Alibaba.
• Despite a correction of more than 30% from its record highs, institutional investors continue to aggressively increase their exposure to the AI memory market.

Massive demand despite a sharp share price correction

SK hynix is launching its ADR offering at a time when sentiment toward semiconductor stocks has deteriorated significantly. The company's shares have fallen approximately 30.5% from the record high reached in late June, while U.S. rival Micron Technology has experienced a similar correction. As a result, some investors began questioning whether the AI-driven rally had become overheated.

Bloomberg's data paints a very different picture. The offering of 177.9 million ADRs attracted orders worth approximately USD 171.5 billion, representing demand more than seven times larger than the number of securities offered.

This suggests that the world's largest investment funds viewed the recent correction not as the end of the AI cycle, but rather as an opportunity to increase their exposure to one of the world's leading suppliers of AI memory.

The second-largest foreign listing in Wall Street history

The ADR offering represents 17.79 million common shares of SK hynix. If the ADR price is set in line with Wednesday's closing price of approximately 2.08 million Korean won per share, the company will raise around USD 24.5 billion.

That would make it the second-largest U.S. listing ever completed by a foreign company, surpassed only by Alibaba's record-breaking USD 25 billion offering.

Although analysts had expected the deal to raise nearly USD 29 billion only a few weeks ago, the recent decline in SK hynix's share price reduced the expected proceeds. Nevertheless, investor demand has remained exceptionally strong.

Another indication that SK hynix views its U.S. listing as a strategic milestone is the personal involvement of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won. According to industry sources, he will attend Friday's Nasdaq ADR listing ceremony alongside SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung and other senior executives.

During the event, the company's leadership is expected to present SK hynix's technological advantages and long-term AI growth strategy to global investors.

The proceeds from the offering will primarily finance capacity expansion. SK hynix plans to build a new semiconductor fabrication plant and an advanced chip packaging facility in South Korea to meet rapidly growing demand for AI memory products.

Chey Tae-won is also expected to meet executives from major U.S. technology companies, including Nvidia and Tesla, highlighting the strategic importance of partnerships with the world's largest AI infrastructure customers.

Major institutional investors remain bullish on AI

According to Bloomberg, the offering attracted interest from global long-only funds, technology-focused investment firms, sovereign wealth funds, and Asia-focused institutional investors.

Baillie Gifford, Coatue Management, and Situational Awareness have reportedly expressed interest in purchasing up to USD 7 billion worth of ADRs. Such significant commitments indicate that the world's largest investors continue to view memory manufacturers as some of the biggest long-term beneficiaries of the AI revolution.

The transaction is being led by some of Wall Street's largest investment banks, including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Citi, further emphasizing the scale and importance of the deal.

Why is SK hynix so important to the AI industry?

SK hynix is currently one of the world's leading manufacturers of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), one of the most critical components used in AI accelerators developed by companies such as Nvidia and AMD. Without next-generation memory, even the most powerful GPUs would be unable to deliver today's AI training and inference performance.

This makes SK hynix one of the most direct beneficiaries of global AI infrastructure spending. Every increase in GPU shipments is accompanied by growing demand for advanced HBM memory.

From an investor's perspective, SK hynix has become one of the most important companies across the entire artificial intelligence value chain.

Is this another bullish signal for the semiconductor sector?

In my view, yes. If investors truly believed that the AI boom was coming to an end, it would be difficult to explain why one of the largest public offerings in recent years attracted demand exceeding supply by more than seven times.

More importantly, this overwhelming demand emerged after SK hynix had already fallen more than 30% from its all-time highs and after Micron experienced a similar correction. This suggests that institutional investors continue to treat the recent weakness as a normal correction within a much larger long-term growth trend.

Although volatility across semiconductor stocks is likely to remain elevated in the near term, the extraordinary demand for SK hynix's ADR offering demonstrates that institutional capital continues to build long-term exposure to artificial intelligence. That should be viewed as a positive signal not only for memory manufacturers but for the broader AI ecosystem as well.

US100 and SK hynix ADRs (D1 chart)

US100 stopped the decline near EMA50 (the orange line) and rising above 30000 points may lead to renewed optimism on Wall Street.

Source: xStation 5

European-listed SK hynix ADRs have already rebounded more than 15% from their recent low, while the shares remain roughly 15% below their record highs. Once again, the 50-day exponential moving average (EMA50) has acted as an important technical support level.

Source: xStation 5