SK Hynix made its long-awaited U.S. trading debut on Friday after pricing its American Depositary Receipt offering at $149 per ADR, raising $26.5 billion in the largest U.S. share sale ever by a foreign company.
The deal surpassed Alibaba Group’s $25 billion IPO in 2014, cementing SK Hynix’s arrival on the global stage. Each ADR is equivalent to one-tenth of a common share listed on the Korea Exchange, where the stock closed at 2.186 million won ($1,445) on Thursday.
The $149 ADR price came in about 3.1% above the Korean closing price. It was also below the previously reported estimate of $166 per ADR, which would have valued the offering at $29.4 billion.
Jim Cramer weighed in on X ahead of the pricing, urging bankers not to get carried away with oversubscription hype. The deal was reportedly oversubscribed by 7x.
“The bankers are letting everyone know how oversubscribed the SK Hynix deal is. That’s a dangerous game,” Cramer said, adding that he hoped the stock would be priced at a slight discount to keep the deal tight.
On Mad Money, Cramer was cautiously upbeat. “Their memory chips may sell at a huge premium, but the stock trades at a discount,” he said.
He did flag one key risk — the cyclical nature of the memory chip industry. “Historically, memory chips have been a boom and bust business, so when supply eventually catches up with demand, you don’t want to be left holding the bag,” Cramer warned.
His advice for investors: start small. “If you’re willing to accept the volatility, I think you could do a lot worse than this one. Put on a small position and leave room to buy more into weakness.”
HSBC analysts were more bullish, saying the Nasdaq listing could lift SK Hynix’s valuation by as much as 20% and help close the gap with Micron Technology (MU).
The bank raised its price target on the Korean-listed stock to 4 million won from 2.9 million won, citing the U.S. listing as a key catalyst. It also expects the company’s price-to-book ratio to climb from 2.8 to 3.4 following the offering.
HSBC said its updated outlook reflects “more proactive shareholder-friendly initiatives and improved accessibility to global investors.”
SK Hynix said it will use the proceeds to build new production facilities in South Korea and purchase extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography scanners — critical tools for manufacturing advanced chips.
The company has been a major beneficiary of surging AI infrastructure demand, particularly for high-bandwidth memory chips used in data centers.
Korean-listed SK Hynix stock had fallen roughly 25% from its June 25 peak heading into the U.S. debut, with broader pressure on chipmakers also pulling the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) down about 3% that same week.
The Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) is up 141% over the past 12 months, while the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) has gained 140% over the same period.
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