Korea Chip Maker SK Hynix Shares Surge on Nasdaq Debut Amid Strong AI Chip Demand

SK Hynix began trading at $170 a share, above its initial public offering price of $149, in the latest test of investor demand for A.I.-related companies.

Key Points

· South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix made its U.S. stock market debut on the Nasdaq.

· Shares opened at US$170, about 13% above the IPO price of US$149.

· The company achieved a market capitalization of around US$1.2 trillion, making it one of the largest foreign companies listed on a U.S. exchange.

· The Initial Public Offering (IPO) raised approximately US$27 billion, making it one of the largest IPOs in history.

· SK Hynix manufactures high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which are essential for training artificial intelligence (AI) models and powering data centres.

· Strong global demand for AI infrastructure has led to shortages of HBM chips, enabling memory chipmakers to increase prices and maintain high profit margins.

· The IPO reflects continued strong investor confidence in AI-related companies.

· SK Hynix joins a series of major AI-related public listings in 2026.

· The report noted that SpaceX, which raised US$86 billion in its IPO, initially surged but later fell below its listing price, highlighting the volatility of newly listed AI stocks.

· Analysts noted that newly listed stocks often rise sharply on debut before stabilising, and investors remain cautious about whether enthusiasm for the AI boom can be sustained.

[ABS News Service/11.07.2026]

Shares of SK Hynix, the latest technology company to test investor appetite for A.I.-related companies, rose around 13 percent on Friday, as the chip manufacturer made its U.S. trading debut on the Nasdaq.

The South Korean company manufactures storage chips, which are a backbone of data center infrastructure, and is the latest trillion-dollar initial public offering this year.

SK Hynix began trading at $170 a share, above its initial public offering price of $149, though its stock price nudged slightly lower by the time markets closed on Friday.

With a roughly $1.2 trillion market capitalization, SK Hynix becomes one of the largest foreign companies trading on an American exchange.

High-bandwidth memory chips are a crucial component in feeding data necessary for training A.I. systems, and the surge in data center spending has exhausted much of the world’s supply for these semiconductors. This has allowed SK Hynix and other memory makers to raise prices and maintain wide profit margins.

SK Hynix’s I.P.O. this week raised about $27 billion, making it one of the largest new share offerings on record, though smaller than SpaceX’s blockbuster $86 billion public offering last month.

The semiconductor maker joins a busy field of public offerings by companies tied to the artificial intelligence sector this year.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s offering was rolled out with enormous hype and fanfare on Wall Street. But after soaring in the first few days of trading, the company’s share price tumbled sharply. This week, SpaceX shares fell below the $150 price at which they started trading, though they are still above the I.P.O. price of $135.

It’s common for newly public stocks to jump on their first days of trading, only to fall a few weeks later, as pent-up demand settles. But investors remain jittery about any signs that enthusiasm for the A.I. boom has begun to wane.