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SK Hynix, the South Korean memory chip giant that quietly became one of the most important companies in the AI supply chain, just priced its American Depositary Receipt offering at $149 per share. The Nasdaq listing, set to begin trading on July 10, raised approximately $26.5 billion and was oversubscribed by more than seven times.
The offering landed right in the middle of a broader AI chip selloff that has hammered semiconductor stocks across Asia. SK Hynix shares slumped in Seoul, Samsung Electronics took a hit, and the Kospi index dropped more than 5%.
The AI memory gold rush meets reality
SK Hynix is the dominant supplier of high-bandwidth memory, the specialized chips that make AI models actually run. That positioning helped SK Hynix reach a $1 trillion market valuation in May 2026. The company has also secured major supply qualifications for Microsoft’s AI chip production, further cementing its role in the infrastructure stack.
The seven-times oversubscription on the ADR offering tells you that institutional investors are still very much believers in this story.
The crypto-to-AI capital rotation
CoinDesk reported a notable trend of investor capital rotating out of cryptocurrency assets and into equities tied to AI infrastructure. The $26.5 billion raised in a single offering is larger than the entire market cap of most crypto projects.
What this means for investors
The broader semiconductor selloff that dragged down the Kospi by over 5% also raises questions about contagion risk. Crypto has historically shown increased correlation with risk assets during periods of market stress.
SK Hynix’s $1 trillion valuation peak in May, followed by significant declines, mirrors a pattern that crypto investors have seen repeatedly. The stock dropped significantly in Seoul even as its US offering attracted overwhelming demand.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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