SK Hynix rises 13% in debut on Wall Street as demand for memory chips soars amid AI frenzy

Gil Luria, managing director and head of technology research at D.A. Davidson, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss th misconceptions about the memory chip sector.

NEW YORK — Shares of South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix rose 12.8 per cent as they made their debut on Wall Street, at a time when demand for chips is surging thanks to the frenzy around artificial intelligence.

The company is already one of the largest in South Korea, along with Samsung Electronics, and is a member of the Kospi index. Even with a recent pullback, the country’s Kospi index is up 77 per cent so far this year and SK Hynix shares have more than tripled.

SK Hynix priced its American depositary receipts, or ADRs, at US$149 each Thursday. They opened Friday at US$170 and closed at US$168.01. The offering of 177.9 million ADRs raised proceeds of US$26.5 billion, making it the biggest-ever initial share sale in the U.S. by a foreign company. An ADR is issued by a bank or broker and is a simplified way for U.S. investors to own foreign stocks through the U.S. markets.

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SK Hynix is going public in the U.S. amid a surge in IPO proceeds. There were 48 IPOs raising a total of US$104.8 billion during the second quarter, according to Renaissance Capital. It is the biggest quarter for deal proceeds in five years, in large part because of SpaceX raising US$75 billion. Many of the companies going public are capitalizing on the demand for all things AI.

SK Hynix has a dominant position globally for high bandwidth memory, which is essential for the development of advanced AI technology. The company recently entered a partnership with Wall Street’s most valuable company, Nvidia, for advanced memory chips as AI infrastructure expands globally.

Increasing demand for AI has been driving a surge in profits for chipmakers. Memory chips have become more expensive as demand outpaces supply along with the advancement of artificial intelligence technology. Technology giant Apple recently announced an increase in prices for Macs and iPads because of the jump in price for memory chips.

The U.S. is SK Hynix’s largest market, accounting for 68.8 per cent of its revenue last year. It is planning an expansion that includes building its first U.S. production facility, located in Indiana. Overall, the company had revenue of just under US$65 billion in 2025. That helped profits double to about US$28 billion.

The company recently joined with Samsung and the government in announcing plans to invest a combined 800 trillion won (US$518 billion) in building a new computer chipmaking hub in South Korea’s southwest region, part of national efforts to expand investment beyond the greater Seoul metropolitan area, the country’s economic center and heart of its semiconductor sector.

• Latest updates on artificial intelligence news here

The promise of growing profits has catapulted stock prices within the tech sector, particularly for chipmakers. Micron Technology’s stock value more than tripled in 2025 and is on pace to more than triple again in 2026. Nvidia’s stock had similar growth several years ago and notched more relatively modest gains in 2025.

Big chipmakers have become the most valuable and influential companies on Wall Street. Their high stock values give them outsized influence over Wall Street and major indexes have been setting records mostly because of the tech sector.

Shares in SK Hynix traded in Seoul slipped 0.3 per cent on Friday.

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Damian J. Troise, The Associated Press