SK Hynix raised $26.5 billion（約4.2兆円） in the largest U.S. IPO ever by a foreign company, driven by soaring demand for AI memory chips. The offering was massively oversubscribed and priced at a premium, reflecting intense investor appetite for exposure to the AI memory market, where SK Hynix holds 58% of high-bandwidth memory revenue. However, the proceeds will fund new manufacturing capacity that could eventually cool the memory cycle, which has historically swung between booms and busts.
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South Korea's SK Hynix priced 177.9 million American depositary shares at $149 each on Thursday, raising about $26.5 billion（約4.2兆円）. The shares opened Friday on the Nasdaq at $168.01, up 12.8% from the offer price. This is the biggest U.S. IPO ever by a foreign company, surpassing Alibaba's $25 billion（約4兆円） 2014 debut.
Why it matters
SK Hynix leads the market for high-bandwidth memory (HBM)—chips that feed data to AI processors—holding 58% of HBM revenue in the first quarter of 2026. The offering was more than seven times oversubscribed, and priced at a rare 3% premium to Seoul closing levels, showing intense investor appetite for AI memory exposure. The company plans to use proceeds to build new fabrication and packaging plants in South Korea.
What to watch
Demand for memory chips is strong now, but the body cautions that new supply from this capital wave could eventually cool the cycle, just as past memory booms ended when new capacity came online. Micron, the largest U.S. memory-chip maker, reported fiscal Q3 revenue of $41.5 billion（約6.6兆円） (up about 350% year over year) and guided for about $50 billion（約8兆円） in the next quarter, though growth rates are stepping down.
SK Hynix's record IPO reflects a fundamental shift in memory-chip economics driven by AI demand. Historically, the memory industry has been defined by boom-and-bust cycles with thin margins, but the earnings figures now support premium valuations. Micron's fiscal third-quarter revenue of $41.5 billion（約6.6兆円）—up about 350% year over year—and guidance for about $50 billion（約8兆円） in the next quarter with gross margins of about 86% underscore how the AI boom has transformed the sector's profitability.
The intensity of demand for the SK Hynix offering carries a dual message. The more than seven times oversubscription and the rare pricing premium of nearly 3% to Seoul levels show that global capital sees sustained opportunity in AI memory. SK Hynix's Seoul-listed shares have more than tripled this year and the company crossed a $1 trillion（約160兆円） market value in May, indicating confidence among existing shareholders as well.
Yet the article raises a structural concern: the proceeds of this record raise will eventually become new supply, and memory has always been cyclical. Even after the past year's historic run, Micron trades at only about 6 times forward earnings, which the article interprets as the market's signal that earnings at these levels are not expected to last forever. The sequential slowdown in Micron's growth rate—from 74% quarter-over-quarter in fiscal Q3 to guided 21% in Q4—hints that the acceleration phase may be moderating. Large capacity investments like SK Hynix's typically mark the moment when a boom begins to seed its own correction.
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