South Korean chip maker SK hynix set pricing for its mega US itemizing on Friday, aiming to boost $26.5bn because it takes benefit of the AI growth in what might be one of many world’s largest ever inventory gross sales.
The Asian semiconductor big plans to difficulty the equal of about 18m shares on Wall Road’s tech-heavy Nasdaq index later within the day.
SK hynix, a provider of superior reminiscence chips to business behemoth Nvidia, has seen income skyrocket because of the worldwide race to build artificial intelligence datacentres.
Tech shares have tumbled in current weeks on fears of overheated valuations – SK hynix has soared more than 220% this yr in Seoul – and issues about when the large international AI spending will reap returns.
However Friday’s Nasdaq itemizing has loved appreciable curiosity, and was greater than seven occasions oversubscribed, in keeping with US media.
The quantity raised didn’t come near the document $75bn raised in SpaceX’s IPO last month, which made founder Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire.
But it surely beat out Saudi Aramco’s 2019 $25.6bn debut and the $21.8bn raised by Chinese language tech agency Alibaba in its New York preliminary public providing.
SK hynix will listing by way of one thing referred to as American depositary shares (ADS), which permit slices of overseas corporations to be traded on US public markets.
The corporate mentioned 177.9m depositary shares, every representing one-tenth of a common share, had been set “at an preliminary public providing value of $149.00 per ADS”.
The providing is being led by BofA Securities, Citigroup International Markets, Goldman Sachs (Asia) and JP Morgan Securities, SK hynix mentioned.
SK hynix shares rose 2.7% on Seoul’s Kospi index after the announcement. The corporate’s market capitalisation on the Kospi soared past $1tn in Could.
That milestone was additionally lately hit by home rival Samsung Electronics and US chip maker Micron – with AI pushing the three companies right into a beforehand unique membership of a few dozen $1tn corporations, almost all American.
A picture of an SK hynix jacket went viral in South Korea this yr as a logo of wealth and success, with parody posts depicting it as a “golden ticket” to luxurious boutiques or higher relationship prospects.
Samsung, SK hynix and Micron dominate the worldwide marketplace for the superior elements often known as high-bandwidth reminiscence (HBM), utilized in AI servers alongside different data-crunching semiconductors.
As chip makers plough sources into profitable HBM, shortages of the much less flashy reminiscence chips in shopper electronics are pushing up costs, with Apple mountaineering the price of its MacBooks and iPads.
Counterpoint Analysis analyst MS Hwang mentioned SK hynix needs to conquer Samsung within the reminiscence chip market.
“Together with the HBM management it has demonstrated till lately, the corporate is now planning to take the lead when it comes to quantity as nicely,” Hwang instructed AFP.
“Funds from its US itemizing can assist such a aim.”
SK hynix mentioned Friday it plans to make use of the proceeds from the providing to fund development of the primary fabrication hub at a brand new semiconductor cluster in Yongin close to Seoul, and to construct a sophisticated packaging facility within the central metropolis of Cheongju, amongst different tasks.
The corporate, together with Samsung, can also be concerned in a large public-private funding of 800tn gained to construct a brand new chip hub in southwest South Korea.
The AI chip growth has fuelled debate about what South Korea ought to do with the tax windfall, in addition to staff’ calls for over pay packages – with Samsung averting a strike by agreeing a deal on bonuses.