Lead

South Korean chipmaker SK hynix Inc. has announced plans to raise up to 45.45 trillion won (US$29.4 billion) through a stock offering linked to the listing of its American depositary receipts (ADRs) on the Nasdaq market, according to a regulatory filing reported by Yonhap News Agency. The proceeds are intended to fund production facility purchases and improve access to global investors amid the company's artificial intelligence (AI) drive.

The new shares will be sold at 2.55 million won and listed on July 29, with ADRs priced at 255,500 won apiece, as stated in the filing. The company noted that the final size of the stock offering and ADRs will be determined after bookbuilding.

Coverage Comparison

Yonhap News Agency, the sole wire service whose coverage was reviewed, reported the announcement in multiple articles, each providing slightly different details as the process evolved.

An initial report on June 24 said SK hynix planned to raise up to 45.45 trillion won, with new shares sold at 2.55 million won and listed on July 29, and ADRs priced at 255,500 won apiece. That report also said the ADRs would be listed on the Nasdaq on July 10, and noted that the proceeds would be used to construct a chip factory and an advanced packaging fab in South Korea, as well as to buy chipmaking equipment such as an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) scanner.

A subsequent report on July 6 said the target had been revised down to up to 43.14 trillion won (US$28.14 billion), reflecting Friday's closing price of 2.42 million won on the KOSPI, compared with 2.55 million won on June 23. That article said SK hynix would issue up to 17.79 million new shares, equivalent to about 2.5 percent of its total shares, for the ADR listing scheduled for Friday. Subscription and payment dates were set for July 14, and the new depositary receipts were scheduled to be listed on July 29.

By July 10, Yonhap reported that SK hynix would raise about 40 trillion won (US$26.5 billion) through the listing, with the offering consisting of 177.9 million ADRs priced at $149 each. Each ADR represents one-tenth of a Seoul-listed common share. The fundraising target was revised down from the previously announced 43 trillion won.

The reports also highlighted that the listing is expected to become the largest-ever U.S. equity debut by a foreign company, surpassing the $21.8 billion raised by Alibaba in its New York IPO, and would rank as the world's second-largest stock sale after SpaceX's $75 billion IPO.

Key Claims

  • SK hynix plans to raise up to 45.45 trillion won via stock offering for the listing of its American depositary receipts on the Nasdaq market, as reported by Yonhap News Agency.
  • The new shares will be sold at 2.55 million won and listed on July 29, with ADRs priced at 255,500 won apiece.
  • The proceeds from the stock sale will be used to construct a chip factory and an advanced packaging fab in South Korea, and to invest in extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment.
  • SK hynix has resubmitted an amended F-1 Form registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
  • The company plans to invest 11.9 trillion won in EUV equipment.
  • The listing is expected to become the largest-ever U.S. equity debut by a foreign company.
Yonhap also reported that SK hynix has ranked first in the global High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) market with a 56.4 percent market share in the first quarter, and was the second-largest supplier of NAND flash memory based on revenue during the period, citing data from IDC.

Additionally, the filing mentioned a "putative antitrust class action suit" filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by indirect purchasers of conventional DRAM products, alleging that SK hynix, its U.S. subsidiary and two other memory semiconductor makers conspired to restrict supply and inflate prices for conventional DRAM beginning in approximately October 2022.