Economy News

SK Hynix raises a record $26.5bn in its Nasdaq listing, beating Alibaba's 2014 debut

South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix raised $26.5bn ahead of its Nasdaq debut on Friday 10 July, selling 177.9 million American depositary shares (ADS) at $149 each, Al Jazeera reports. That makes it the largest listing by a foreign company in the US, surpassing Alibaba's $25bn debut in 2014, and the second-largest globally after SpaceX's $85.7bn Nasdaq listing in June. Bloomberg reported the deal was more than seven times oversubscribed.

The appetite reflects the AI memory boom. SK Hynix made a net profit of 40.34 trillion won ($26.6bn) in the first quarter, its Seoul-listed shares are up about 229% this year, and in May it joined Samsung Electronics and Micron in the $1tn club.

“I think what we are seeing is a mix of genuine confidence and speculative activity.” — Cameron Robertson, Platinum Asset Management, via Al Jazeera

How each outlet framed it

• Al Jazeera — demand that beat “even the most optimistic expectations”, Pepperstone's Dilin Wu said, coming while chip stocks were selling off and the Kospi had a circuit-breaker week.
• Asia News Network — a new “Nasdaq chapter” for a Korean champion, with the record $26.5bn offering.
• IPO Scoop — the biggest ADS deal in history, with the stock up almost 13% on its debut.

What we don't know yet: how durable the rally is. Platinum's Robertson pointed to rapid growth in margin lending and single-stock leveraged ETFs in Korea, a market up more than 70% in 2026, as signs of how swept up investors have been.