SK Hynix IPO raises $26.5B as Nvidia's memory chip partner hits Nasdaq

SK Hynix, a South Korea-based semiconductor company, completed the largest U.S. initial public offering ever by a foreign company on July 10, selling 177.9 million American depositary shares at $149 per share and raising approximately $26.5 billion（約4.2兆円）. The timing of the listing is significant: it arrived just a few weeks after SK Hynix and Nvidia announced a multiyear technology partnership that positions SK Hynix as a critical supplier of memory chips to Nvidia's next-generation AI platforms.

Under the partnership agreement, SK Hynix will develop high-bandwidth memory (HBM)—specialized memory that Nvidia's GPUs depend on to function—for several Nvidia product lines: the Vera Rubin AI platforms, Vera CPUs, Jetson Thor robotic platforms, and RTX Spark-powered PCs. Beyond memory supply, the two companies committed to collaborating on AI-driven chip design and manufacturing, incorporating Nvidia's CUDA-X libraries, PhysicsNeMo, TCAD workflows, and internal engineering tools. SK Hynix will also work to fully automate fab (manufacturing) operations using Nvidia technology. This arrangement positions SK Hynix's memory as the natural, optimized choice for customers building systems around Nvidia's processors, giving it a structural competitive advantage.

Financially, SK Hynix is capitalizing on a period of severe supply shortage. In the first quarter of 2026, the company reported $34.5 billion（約5.5兆円） in revenue—a 199% increase compared to Q1 2025—and $26.5 billion（約4.2兆円） in net income, yielding a net margin of 77%. These figures place SK Hynix among the most profitable semiconductor companies on record. Market share data underscores its dominance: SK Hynix controls 56% of the HBM market, far outpacing Micron Technology at 21%. The stock surged 13% on its first day of Nasdaq trading, though the article notes it is too early to discern longer-term performance from that move.

However, the article cautions investors about valuation and cyclicality. At a $1.19 trillion（約190兆円） market cap based on 2025 full-year earnings of $28.2 billion（約4.5兆円）, SK Hynix trades at a trailing P/E ratio of 43—significantly higher than Micron's 22× multiple despite comparable growth rates (Micron reported 196% annual revenue growth in Q2 FY2026 and 346% in Q3 FY2026). That valuation gap reflects the memory chip industry's notorious boom-and-bust cycles: historically, SK Hynix has experienced "massive up cycles when demand outpaces supply, followed eventually by brutal down cycles when supply surpasses demand." Currently, demand for HBM vastly exceeds supply, explaining the company's triple-digit percentage revenue growth and providing incentive for the U.S. listing. Nonetheless, once major manufacturers expand production capacity, supply will likely outstrip demand, triggering margin compression and stock pressure—a pattern Micron's own history illustrates. The article suggests that while SK Hynix stock may deliver gains in the near term as AI buildout continues, investors should monitor for signs of cyclical downturn and potential supply gluts.

SK Hynix's Nasdaq debut caps a dramatic acceleration in the memory chip market driven by AI infrastructure demand. The timing—just weeks after announcing its exclusive partnership with Nvidia—signals confidence that the company can secure long-term supply contracts while demand remains acute. Nvidia's GPUs are the dominant processors for generative AI, but they depend critically on supporting hardware like HBM, which SK Hynix now supplies at scale. The partnership commits SK Hynix to build memory tailored to Nvidia's roadmap (Vera Rubin, Vera CPUs, Jetson Thor, RTX Spark), giving SK Hynix a structural advantage over competitors like Micron: customers who standardize on Nvidia's platforms will naturally prefer SK Hynix's HBM, which is engineered to work most effectively with those products.

The financial snapshot supports this moment: Q1 2026 revenue of $34.5 billion（約5.5兆円） (up 199% year-over-year) and net income of $26.5 billion（約4.2兆円） at a 77% net margin reflect a market in which demand for AI memory severely outpaces supply. For comparison, Micron's recent growth has been similarly explosive—196% annual revenue growth in Q2 FY2026, and 346% in Q3—yet Micron trades at only 22× trailing earnings while SK Hynix commands 43×. That gap is partly explained by valuation timing and perceived growth visibility, but it also flags the fundamental cyclicality of memory markets: the article notes that SK Hynix has historically experienced "massive up cycles when demand outpaces supply, followed eventually by brutal down cycles when supply surpasses demand." Micron's lower multiple may reflect investor caution about that cycle.